Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya Autostraddle Mar 20, 2024

Even as it jumps between 20th century decades, The Hours is intensely, almost upsettingly linear. A lot like life.

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Carla Monfort Espinof Aug 15, 2022 4/5

Few movies depict depression as well, it's subtle and truthful, without overloading it dramatically even though it touches upon suicide and other complicated subjects... [Full review in Spanish]

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David Reddish Queerty Mar 20, 2022 4/4

Loaded with rich dialogue, magnificent performances and a delicate score by Philip Glass, The Hours reminds us how movies can touch and reflect our lives. For the characters that embrace love and truth, life offers joy and hope.

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David Walsh World Socialist Web Site Feb 16, 2021

Self-involved and self-important to a dangerously high degree ...

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Mike Massie Gone With The Twins Sep 30, 2020 8/10

A poignant, mature, satisfying drama and, in many ways, ahead of its time.

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PJ Nabarro Patrick Nabarro Oct 31, 2019 2/5

The problem with The Hours' overt literariness is that it makes it a very pleading work; the film wants you to "get it" at every single point of its discourse.

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Daniel Mendelsohn The New York Review of Books Aug 20, 2018

The Hours is a serious and moving film, one that achieves many of its goals; among other things, it will presumably have many, many more people reading Mrs. Dalloway than Woolf could ever have dreamed of.

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Mark Steyn The Spectator Jan 30, 2018

The effect is much cruder than the book: you're aware of the geometric patterns linking the parallel stories; everything seems a little too pat, the emblems of the era a little too obviously emblematic - cake-baking in the Fifties, Aids now.

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Charlotte O'Sullivan Independent (UK) Nov 15, 2017

It's a must-see. Mainstream epics routinely privilege the father-son bond... In The Hours, patriarchs barely figure, and the only phallic weapon on display is Virginia's pen.

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Joel Siegel Good Morning America Feb 25, 2015 A-

The script, the score, the sets, the costumes, and the direction are all Oscar quality, and incredible performances from Kidman, Moore, Streep and Harris make The Hours seem like minutes.

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Nell Minow Common Sense Media Dec 28, 2010 5/5

Smart, thoughtful movie for older teens and up.

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Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Mar 26, 2009 B-

Daldry's screen version is well acted Kidman, Moore, and especially Meryl Streep, but it's too literal and middlebrow to convey the complexity or lyricism of Michael Cunningham's seminal, Pulitzer prize winning novel.

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Michael Dequina TheMovieReport.com Feb 1, 2009 3/4

More than just Oscar bait; it's a veritable Oscar bait and tackle shop.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Feb 11, 2008

David Hare's screen adaptation reduces Woolf and her art to a set of feminist stances and a few plot points, without reference to style or form.

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Joe Lozito Big Picture Big Sound Jul 14, 2007 4/4

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Nick Davis Nick's Flick Picks Sep 16, 2006 B+

The Hours totally engrosses me... It somehow deepens the [book's] themes to see the bodies, scrutinize the faces, smell the money, feel the flatness of the screen.

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Derek Adams Time Out Jun 24, 2006

A boldly realised, affecting work.

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Darrin Keene Film Threat Dec 6, 2005 4/5

The film's true star is its script.

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Rick Kisonak Film Threat Dec 6, 2005 4/5

Life may or may not be everything it's cracked up to be. This movie most definitely is.

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Christopher Smith Bangor Daily News (Maine) Dec 1, 2005 A

If this movie is about how some choose not to live, it's also just as much about why others choose to go on.

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