'The Hours' is a story concerning subject matter that deserves to be known. It may not be something that many people experience firsthand or even secondhand but it is a very real story that happens among many people, whether light or severe.The performances by this entire cast were spot on. There was not one performance I did not enjoy whether it came from main characters or supporting. I incredibly enjoyed the three powerhouse leading ladies in Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Julianne Moore but beyond those three, Ed Harris as Richard Brown and Jack Rovello as Richie were by far my favorites.This film is definitely worth the watch but be sure to find something pleasant to watch afterward!-- Oberrated.com --

Highly recommended for anyone interested in sublime acting. All awards completely deserved and to my mind in particular, Julianne Moore. I'm also surprised that so little acknowledgment is given to Jack Rovello as the young "Richie". Not an enormous part, but every bit as masterfully calculated as Haley Joel Osment in "The Sixth Sense". This is not a movie for "entertainment", but totally pulls the audience into the complexities of human relationships and the inner turmoils of even the children surrounding them. One puzzle in the film left me hanging: why does Clarissa say, when asked by Laura Brown if Clare Danes is her daughter, "I never met her father"??

Honestly, there is no exclamatory phrase in the tool belt of even a happy-mouthed Guy Fieri that can do justice to how strictly enjoyable The Hours is, especially for it's subject matter. It's basically an infinite recursion of intertextual frame narratives that center on the novel Mrs. Dalloway, which I had not read, but am currently reading...because of this movie.The screenplay is tight, hyper-aware of what it is doing and does so without feeling cumbersome much of the time. There is a particularly perfect spot where Meryl Streep's character discusses 'prescience', which is really the theme of the whole movie, and maybe even of Mrs. Dalloway...more to come on that.Bonus points: Nicole Kidman is unrecognizable, and really ceases to be herself while assuming Virginia Woolf, Phil Glass NAILS it on a score that ebbs and flows with the film's surrendering subjects and there's even a gorgeous scene where a hotel room quickly becomes what may or may not be Julianne Moore's final self-inflicted watery grave.

This movie, and the timing in which it came out, were just right to make an impact on my life. I was 22 when this was released and came out on VHS. I literally wore out the VHS tape because I watched it so often.I distinctly remember my gut reactions to this movie - especially to Clarissa's story line at the end. I felt that this movie was a truly interesting look at depression. It kind of makes you feel like: "snap out of it" at first. You get 3 different glances at three different female lives and at the beginning of the film it looks like all of them have pretty nice lives. It is also starkly obvious that none of them are happy in their "nice lives." This interests me particularly because the devastation is often pushed on to the depressed by those around them. It is very easy to think, or to say to them: "you have a good life. why can't you be happy?" The movie does not really address this for us. It does not tell us why they cannot be happy and I believe that is because each of these women wonder that a bit themselves - even to the extent of feeling some guilt about it. As each story unfolds it becomes obvious that their happiness or unhappiness is out of their control. Virginia has obviously battled her demons for most of her life and both her and her loved ones are close to the end of what they can bear. The first thing we see is Virginia's suicide, so you are warned very early that this movie is not going to be a gentle ride.Laura Brown was the most frustrating character to me personally. You can tell from the first glance of her that she's depressed. Her poor husband and child that both try so hard to connect with her but just cannot... and I felt so deeply for her little boy. It is obvious he knows something is wrong but also that he cannot fix it for her. It's a hard situation to watch. It's so important, though. Having a wonderful husband, children, a nice home... none of these things guarantee happiness.Clarissa is the character I sympathize with. She is longing for days past and is weighed down by her past - the things she she wishes she could return to and the opportunities she feels she missed. What I see as the watcher, though, is that maybe her expectations for herself and her life were just a little too high. I think this is an emotional place where many women find themselves.Here's my major spoiler - just a warning.The scene in which Richard commits suicide is so perfectly done. Meryl Streep's expression will stay with me forever. My husband accidentally sat down for the last half of of this movie a few days ago and I warned him: the end get rough. He just looked at me like that was silly. But when the end came, he was speechless. lol Many movies that touch on depression almost make my depression worse but this movie never has. I feel amazingly understood by the way this movie was handled.End game, it is a very well done movie. It's probably not the type of movie you want to show at a party, and I wouldn't say it's a really relaxing watch, but if you want to understand depression or want to feel that someone understands yours, hopefully this movie will help you too.