Reviews

I must admit I was a bit disappointed by The Hours. The omission of one scene in particular (immediately followed the climax event in the book) really annoyed me. I thought Laura Brown's story could have been explained better. In the book, she lies to the hotel clerk, claiming that her husband would be along shortly. It made it more convincing to the reader that Brown was troubled and maybe a bit off mentally. A little more explanation in the film would have been nice.

SPOILER ALERT

And I also didn't care for the way they handled one character (and his younger self). The kid was called "Ritchie" in the book. Instead, Richard holds a picture of his mother up, a dead giveaway, and Daldry reveals this fact to the viewer even before the climax event. The book handled this much better. I was very upset he used such an obvious spoonfeeding approach; it was more like something I'd expect from Ron Howard than from Stephen Daldry. I really liked the part in the book when Brown and Vaughn meet, and Brown reveals her connection to Richard.

SPOILER ALERT END

I did NOT care for that "train station" scene. The screaming and histrionics were not present in the book, nor were they necessary.

I'm also surprised at all the acclaim for Nicole Kidman. Of the three main actresses in this film, I felt Kidman gave easily the weakest performance. The scene in which her sister is leaving and she asks her if she's getting any better was outstanding, but the train station scene and many others weren't that great. Screaming and flailing your arms around does not equal great acting.

Streep was outstanding, and gave the best performance in the film. The nervous breakdown scene reminded me of her performance in One True Thing, but that's mostly a good thing, as she was also outstanding in that film. Streep's scenes with Ed Harris, also excellent in his role, were among the best in the film.

Moore gave one of her best performances ever. I liked Moore better in The Hours than I did in Far from Heaven. She was surprisingly good, and was probably the most subtle of the three. I would have liked for the screenwriter or director to dump a few of Kidman's scenes and add scenes for Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep.

The child acting wasn't that great. Brown's kid annoyed me. His facial expressions and tone didn't always match the situation. But I guess it's tough to find a good child actor. Cute kid, but I would prefer not to see him again. I was much more impressed with Natalie Portman in Leon and Lucas Black in Sling Blade. The rest of the cast was excellent. Richardson, Janney, Danes, Daniels, Reilly, Collette, and others did a fine job in the smaller roles of the film.

The cinematography was good, although not award worthy. The score was good, I guess, but it was relentless, intrusive, and sometimes even repetitive. I wanted a break from Glass' score now and then. The editing was overdone at the beginning of the film. You get the connections between the women pounded into your head. Again, Daldry slips into giving a Ron Howard-ish treatment of the subject matter with the editing, but overall, Daldry did a pretty good job telling the story and getting excellent performances out of the cast.

I just wish he challenged his viewer a little bit and did more with Laura Brown's story. This was a difficult book to adapt, so I give the screenwriter kudos for difficulty points, but I didn't approve of the addition of a temper tantrum in the train station scene or the deletion of a key scene after the climax event. The film is filled with good performances.

I'd give The Hours about a 7.5/10.