"Empire Falls" is a 4 hour HBO miniseries which delves into the lives of a bunch of folks who live in a small, quaint Maine town where everyone knows everyone else and their business as well. A where-have-I-seen-this-before story of an apparently functional community with evidence of dysfunction bubbling to the surface at every juncture, "Empire Falls" tells a predictable but pleasantly easy going story which revolves around a passive, underachieving college grad (Harris) who runs a café owned by a wealthy widow (Woodward) who has little interest in anything beyond controlling the townsfolk like so many puppets. The story plays out on several levels with flashback conjuring the backstory while the motley aggregation of kooky and not so kooky characters work through their assorted problems to plaintive stringed orchestral stains. In spite of an excellent cast, "Empire Falls" falls short of HBO standards but is fodder for sentimentalists, especially those who survive on a diet of prime time TV. Movie buffs and realists should think twice before committing four hours to this flick as the buy-in may be difficult and the rewards too few and far between. (B)
Review of Empire Falls
