The Hours was a long, drawn out, boring movie if I ever did see one. I found it consistently confusing and undeniably frustrating. The only things I enjoyed were the cast, some of the things spoken by Virginia Woolf, and the moody instrumental music, but you have to be in the mood for that.

The Cast: Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf, Meryl Streep as Clarissa Vaughn, Julianne Moore as Laura Brown, Ed Harris as Richard Brown, Toni Collette as Kitty, Claire Danes as Julia Vaughan, Jeff Daniels as Louis Waters, Stephen Dillane as Leonard Woolf, Allison Janney as Sally Lester, John C. Reilly as Dan Brown, and Miranda Richardson as Vanessa Bell.

I liked the selection of actors chosen for this movie. I like Nicole Kidman as an actress, despite not enjoying two other films she starred in To Die For and Portrait Of A Lady. I also like (should I dare say) Meryl Streep, which for some reason I always remember best in Death Becomes Her(maybe that should have been the name of this movie?). The same goes for Ed Harris, Claire Danes and Miranda Richardson. The rest of the cast I'm okay with, but I can't really say that they make my world turn.

The Story: The movie is basically about death, depression, desiring death, unhappiness, illness, and just life in general getting you down. Okay, now see I can relate to all of that. I've either experienced it first hand or know someone that has. I can't really say that I look for that in a movie though. It's not usually the kind of stuff you seek out and want to watch. It's definitely not for children or young impressionable teenagers, even with its PG-13 rating. Even that being said, I didn't really find the movie that depressing. As in, I didn't cry or feel sad after watching it.

I was rather numb to it all. Mostly this was because I didn't understand the movie and the parts that did make sense frustrated me. I understand the movie more now after researching it. I read a couple of reviews here, a couple at other online sites, and I even made a visit to the official website for the movie. Now, if it takes that much looking into to understand a movie, then you know you're in trouble.

I must admit though, I was unfamiliar with Virginia Woolf and her story, her book Mrs. Dalloway. I have never read the book. I also wasn't aware that The Hours is an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Cunningham. In fact, I don't even know who Michael Cunningham is. Though I didn't know the background on this movie, I still don't think knowing what I know now would make it any more enjoyable.

The movie was just a bore. It went on for what felt like hours and hours. I understand why they titled the movie as they did. I don't consider or call myself a stupid person (except when it's convenient to me), and out of all the not-always-so-nice things my teachers had to say about me, stupid was never one of them. Yet, I just couldn't grasp the point of this movie.

The story of these three women does mesh together, maybe too well. At first I thought the story that Virginia was writing was about the two other characters in the movie. I thought that Laura and Clarissa were just characters in Virginia's book. As you watch the movie you later find that they are linked, but very much separate from each other. Linked by a single work of literature. Which to me seems rather absurd, although the characters, dull as they are, are believable.

Virginia:The movie opens with Virginia committing suicide. She writes a letter for her husband and leaves it where he will find it. She leaves the house which is her home, but is actually more like a prison on suicide watch for her. She strolls through the yard or whatever and walks to this body of water where she fills her pockets with rocks and wades into the water, sinking deeper and never comes up.

Sometime after this introduction they go back in time before she took her own life and they show her working on her novel. She's living in the country, after moving out of the city of London. Her husband thought it would do her some good. She struggles with her illness and her husband tries desperately to protect her from herself. Her sister Vanesssa is coming soon for a visit. She has the maids preparing for her and the children's arrival. When her sister arrives she sits there and the sister says something about how it's good to see her. She tells Virginia that she wishes she wasn't so far away or something like that. Virginia I think tells her that she misses London and seeing her. I can't remember the exact order of everything.

Then Virginia, Vanessa and the children are outside and they come across a dead bird and Virginia makes some disturbing comments about it and makes reference to death. When they all go back inside the house Virginia says some more disturbing things that kind of frighten her sister and the children and so they all leave earlier than expected. But, before Vanessa slips off Virginia goes and decides to lay a smacker on dear sis. It wasn't a very sisterly kiss, if you know what I mean. Now if that isn't uncalled for then I don't know what is.

I knew when I rented this movie it was on the depressing side with a moody tone, but I had no idea it was going to have lesbian borderline incest in it too. Sick! It doesn't stop there though. I'll talk more about that later.

Virginia also talks of hearing voices. I think she had said somewhere in the movie about she still hears them but she just doesn't listen, or something like that.

Before running off to kill herself she runs off for some other reason. Her husband goes looking for her, thinking she is on another suicide mission. He finds her at the train station and sits with her on a bench. She tells him that she wishes to go back to London and that he can't protect her. That basically she's going to want to die where ever she lives, and why shouldn't she have the choice of where she wants to be miserable. She also finds more inspiration for her writing in London. I must admit though, some of the things said here were kind of poetic.

So that was basically Virginia's story, or at least what I understood of it. Virginia does complete her book and Laura ends up being the first character in the movie it touches.

Laura:Laura Brown lives in Los Angeles. She's a wife and mother in the forties. Whether she feels trapped and unhappy before she began reading Virginia's novel Mrs. Dalloway is beyond me. All I know is that as she reads it she finds it reflects the dissatisfaction of her life. She has plans of her own too. Family isn't visiting her, instead it is her husband's (Dan) birthday that needs celebrating.

All through out the scenes with Laura she is reading this book. She decides to bake Dan a cake for his birthday. Laura wasn't much of one for baking. She lets her young son help her make the cake. When the cake is all done and taken out of the oven and frosted, it is not quite right. It's rather lopsided.

Then the neighbor (Kitty) comes over and talks to Laura. She tells Laura of her problems and tells Laura about Laura's problems. Kitty has been trying to have a kid, but can't seem to conceive. Laura on the other hand already has a child and is pregnant with another. Kitty also brings out the fact that Laura can't bake a cake and how simple it is to bake one. Kitty has many domestic skills and Laura does not. But, Laura can have children, the one thing Kitty can't do and wants so badly. She is jealous and envious of Laura and in so many words admits to it. Laura shows compassion for her and comforts her. While doing this Laura goes and slips her a wet kiss. Another uncalled for lesbian moment. Don't get me wrong, I have gay friends. I just don't see how all this lesbian stuff was essential or enriched the movie.

So to make Laura's frustrating and boring story shorter, she reads more of her book and eventually at one point in the movie drops her son off at the sitter's house. The son seems to sense what's to come next and becomes very upset about her leaving. Mommy goes and rent s a hotel and is planning on killing herself. She's in the room, laying on the bed, about to take pills I believe, while reading her book. The room starts filling up with water and she reads more and all of a sudden she decides against her plan and leaves and picks up her son, which was still screaming and carrying on at the house she left him at.

Laura's solution to everything was to runaway. And runaway she did. She has the baby that she was about to kill with herself and shortly after leaves to becomes a librarian in Canada. If she was searching for meaning in her life and feeling trapped, I don't see how her next choice was better. I really didn't understand it. The part where she was going to throw her life away and the unborn child really frustrated me. I couldn't really see how her life was so bad. Her husband loved and adored her. She could do no wrong with him. She did re bake the cake and it seemed to come out good the second time around, but as Kitty had said to her he would have loved anything she did. He would have ate and liked the screwed up cake and appreciated it regardless. I just don't get it.

Then there's the part where as she was about to kill herself and reading the book they switch back and forth from Laura to Virginia. Virginia had decided that her heroine had to die earlier, but then changes her mind and decides on someone else, but insists that someone in her book has to die. I thought Laura was at that point just a character in Virginia's book because as Virginia decided this, Laura decided to chose life as she later says. The hotel room that Laura was in, is then drained of the water, after Virginia's decision. Whatever, I just don't get it.

Clarissa:Now there is Clarissa. Clarissa is a literary editor living in Greenwich Village, New York. Richard Brown is her long-time friend and at one time a lover, or so they seem to imply. They never really go too deep into that. Richard is dying of AIDS and it is in its final stages. Clarissa comes to his apartment and cares for him. Richard aside from being very sick has won a prestigious literary award. Clarissa is throwing a party for him. She puts so much into this party and Richard doesn't seem to care. He hasn't cared in the past, but usually when it comes down to it, appreciates her efforts in the long run. Or at least that's what Clarissa believes.

Clarissa was always one for planning events. She is even accused of it really being her party and that the party is more for her than even Richard.

So Clarissa plans away and runs all sorts of errands and puts so much time and effort into this. She wants everything to be perfect. She's in denial about things. She is so absorbed by other people's problems and little insignificant things that she doesn't bother to take notice to her own problems until the pressure that she has put on herself due to this celebration and Richard, finally breaks down. She then has her own suicidal type of experience and wonders if her life has any worth.

Her breakdown seems to be brought on by Louis. Louis is Richard's old lover and when he arrives early for the party things progressively get tense for Clarissa. Little things that don't go right seem to be so tragic to her. Clarissa tells her daughter Julia that everything and everyone is "silly". Julia then asks if she is silly and Clarissa tells her of course not, but thinks that even her girlfriend (Clarissa's partner) is silly. Clarissa was called Mrs. Dalloway by Richard. I'm not sure what that means, seeing as I have no background on the book. Alas, another thing that went over my head.

Clarissa of course falls apart. Richard on the other hand does not fair as well. He wondered if all of it was worth this unending struggle and decided it wasn't. Clarissa goes to his apartment and he rants and raves some crazy talk and then plummets to his death. He decided to take a one-way ticket out the window.

Later they reveal to you that Laura Brown is Richard Brown's mother. She is nicknamed "the monster". She visits Clarissa and talks with her and explains her actions and tells her story. This occurs after Richards death.

Conclusion:If you thought this was a boring read you're probably right, but at the same time, if you thought this was boring then you'll probably also agree that the movie is boring. It's a confusing story that all runs together and at a slow pace. The story just drags on. They could have sped it up a bit. It's like you watch this story unfold, but nothing is really being told. You watch and watch and nothing really happens. You wait for something to happen, but it takes forever. There were too many pauses and parts that I could have done without, and things that could have gone deeper. I was left confused and with many questions. Then the parts that there are no questions to, are frustrating. You're left thinking "why?", "what the heck is wrong with you", and "who cares". It all seemed so pointless. I thought of watching it a second time to see if I would get more out, but enduring through it once was enough and about all I could bear.

The only good I could find in this movie was the cast, some of the poetic things that (only flickering moments) Virginia said like something to the effect of "all we have is the hours" speech and stuff like that. That and the music was alright. Looking at Nicole Kidman's transformation was amusing too. The fake nose, old dresses, and research she did for the part. She didn't even look like herself. She supposedly read biographies on Virginia Woolf, along with letters that were written by Virginia. She learned that Virginia like to roll her own cigarettes and incorporated that into the role. Even so, it still wasn't enough to save the movie. You couldn't pay me enough to sit through it again. A movie I definitely could not and would not recommend.

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age