The Orlando Sentinel

On paper, the miniseries of “Empire Falls” sounds awesome.

On film, it plays as if it’s still on paper.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel becomes a sprawling, inert HBO miniseries. The two-part, 3 ½-hour drama, which starts Saturday and concludes May 29, is a major disappointment.

The mostly impeccable cast, led by Ed Harris and Paul Newman, works lovingly on this saga of small-town life. With a sure hand, director Fred Schepisi evokes the sad, faded atmosphere of fictional Empire Falls, Maine.

But everyone is at the mercy of Richard Russo, who adapted his book. Russo loads down the plot with chapters, narration and flashbacks that sap the drama’s energy. The miniseries is not a good advertisement for an outstanding novel.

The executive producers, who include Newman, obviously adore Russo and the book. They could have shown their affection by letting someone else adapt the novel and mold it into a satisfying script.

The meandering “Empire Falls” follows many characters and jumps back and forth in time. The dawdling style gives way to a traumatic event that stuns the town and overshadows everything that has come before. The script concludes with a bit of head-scratching philosophy rather than a worthwhile emotional payoff.

No one will blame you if you want to get out of town. Even so, some exceptional actors still make “Empire Falls” worth a look.

The central character is Miles Roby (Harris), who runs the Empire Grill and feels stuck in life. Miles has strained relations with his needy ex-wife, Janine (Helen Hunt); his crabby, disheveled father, Max (Newman); and the grill’s owner, Francine Whiting (Joanne Woodward).

The best reasons to visit “Empire Falls” are Newman and Woodward. She portrays the town’s matriarch with malevolent glee and taunts Miles, “I know you better than you know yourself.” Behind scraggly hair and a dirty beard, Newman gives a funny, energetic performance as an old scam artist.

Harris does as well as he can with a tricky role, playing a trapped, lonely man who has trouble expressing himself. The actor’s best moments are as loving father to Miles’ teen daughter, Tick (Danielle Panabaker). But Harris also has to spend a lot of time contemplating the past – never easy on film – before coming to a revelation about his family.

The flashback scenes give thankless roles to Robin Wright Penn as Miles’ elegant mother and Philip Seymour Hoffman as a mystery man.

There are impressive actors crammed into every corner of “Empire Falls.” They include Aidan Quinn as Miles’ brother, Estelle Parsons as a bar owner, Theresa Russell as a waitress, Dennis Farina as a health club owner, William Fichtner as a police officer and Kate Burton as a longtime admirer of Miles. “Law & Order” star Farina gives the showiest performance, and Oscar-winner Hunt delivers the weakest as the strident, unhappy Janine.

“Empire Falls” struggles to say something about the frustrations and limitations of small-town life. But because the miniseries lacks emotional punch, the larger issues matter less than the smaller pleasures. The Maine locations, a bouncy musical score and a psychotic cat add distinctive flavor.

In the end, “Empire Falls” represents another great novel lost in translation to film. In this case, blame the author.

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EMPIRE FALLS

Cast: Ed Harris, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Helen Hunt.

Where and when: The two-part miniseries premieres 9-11 p.m. Saturday and 9-10:30 p.m. May 29 on HBO.