Empire Falls (2005)

Truly Dreadful Film

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Blistering performances.

The best thing I've seen said here and likely to come from this adaptation is that it may cause some viewers to read the novel. That would definitely be recommended because the film does not give depth to several 'lesser' characters, a depth that can be found in the novel.This is partly understandable as time limits tend to shunt aside certain characters in order to develop others more fully. The down side of this, however, is that the characters left undeveloped are interesting as well and deserve more than simplistic or stereotypical presentations.When presenting characters that are deserving of interest, they ought to be developed more fully, otherwise what they do doesn't really ring true. It's particularly important when these characters impact the main characters lives greatly, as happens in this drama.Generally I find the average IMDb rating of 7 to be okay, but I gave it 5 because the film had thin moments, fell back to stereotypes occasionally, had some humor that seemed forced, and had a really corny and maudlin epilogue that almost wrecks everything done beforehand.Also, Helen Hunt's character was really hard to watch and almost embarrassing in over-the-top intensity. That's the fault of the director, for Hunt has proved herself to have talent and can handle things with more subtlety when asked to.

I'm relieved the later reviews have turned sour - reading all the positive feedback, I was starting to worry that my understanding of movies (and life) was completely different than everyone else's in the world. Everything in this movie rang false to me...the characters, the dialogue, the manipulative soundtrack, the corny narration, all of it. As each scene unfolded I kept thinking, "People don't act like this." It's relentlessly heavy-handed and maudlin. In a way I think the movie bullies you into liking it, or pretending to like it, because it's Serious and about Real People and confronts Issues. But man, it really did not work for me.

hey y'all i was bored and surfing the net and found the web sight for the man who played Brian. If you want to check out the drunk bus boy's web sight go to www.timmytime.org Brian the drunk bus boy is one of my Dav. I found a new scene that he is in too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc8vHftqAvs He is directing a play that he wrote as well Tim is an amazing man. Feel free to check them out and see for yourselves the scene on you tube is funny as hell. As far as Empire falls i really enjoy how they show Maine. I have grown up here and was excited to see it on TV. Please rent and watch this and judge for your selves at how good this movie is. If you liked to book you will love this movie.

**This contains spoilers about the second part of the movie** I really appreciated the casting, the first few acts, and the setting. Very true-to-life and relevant. The second disk was a soup sandwich, and I imagine that the closing of the novel stunk as well. After the strong first 2 hours, the letdown of the last part was tremendous, and made we wonder "why bother?" When it was finished, I wanted that time back -- I had been cheated. It was evident to me that the author/screenwriter had wandered out into a field and needed a way to get back. Also, I wondered if HBO had funded the first part and then lost funding on the second. So much was contrived that it looked as though they were trying to save money and just get it over with.Very disappointing, and I think this is a good example of why Hollywood is losing box office and relevance. When you start out strongly relating to *real people* and *real life,* you should try to end up that way, too.The first few chapters are worth watching, but you're going to be let down. You were warned.