A Prairie Home Companion

If you ever listened to Prairie Home Companion, you'll love the movie. A little quirky, but so was the radio program.

No one's films love actors more or studios less than Robert Altman's. His best films are so loosely scripted as to seem almost serendipitous. The latitude he gives actors risks anarchy and gets amazing performances (and occasional weird implosions). Narrative becomes superfluous. Demigods wander through the film with strange weight and inevitability as in ancient Greek drama. It is as though the actors are given a selection of lines for their use and, then allowed to use any of them whenever and wherever they might choose...or to do whatever they think fitting, whenever it seems right.The amazing thing is that this often works brilliantly. It also comes at the expense of narrative. Occasionally a good actor is overwhelmed and freezes up. Tom Skerritt seemed baffled by the freedom Altman gave in "M*A*S*H" and just couldn't use it to advantage; after that experience, though Skerritt became one of the better, more adaptable supporting actors in film as in "Steel Magnolias", "Top Gun", "A River Runs Through it" and other films. In contrast, Kieth Carradine used "Nashville" to reinvent himself as an actor - as did Lilly Tomlin.Altman's films are like wind-up toys. M*A*S*H is that brightly painted tin rocket that wheels around on the floor, careering, zooming, lights flashing to the accompaniment of whirring gear-noises and, then, just slows, and winds down to a stop, no lights, no noise, no motion...fade to black. Nashville is the Jack-in-the-Box, lots of music, no obvious plot to resolve and then Barbara Harris pops out of the box...fireworks and revelation. "The Player" is that little black box where you flip the switch and the box starts to shudder and make noise and shake a bit with increasing intensity until a little green hand opens the lid on the box, quickly turns the switch off and retreats back into the box.Altman has made casting decisions that the studios and most casting directors would never even think of and would reject if someone else offered them. The results Altman got are amazing, evanescent, other-worldly. Jeff Goldblum and Geraldine Chaplin as freelance journalists in "Nashville" seem to both compliment and deride "gonzo journalism". Fred Ward and Brion James made their careers portraying thuggish tough guys and enforcers but in "The Player" Altman makes them top studio executives, scheming, devious, secretly insecure but at the apex of power in the film industry. In "Prairie Home Companion" Virginia Madsen floats above us all, Lindsay Lohan gives a nuanced, intelligent and entertaining performance...who'da thunk it? Kevin Kline seems to channel Peter Sellers' Clouseau.If you were a PHC fan see this, if you weren't then definitely see this.

This little quirky movie is one of my favorites. A total pleasure

A Prairie Home Companion was a radio program that wasted hosted in the 1970's and 1980's that was broadcasted each Saturday night from the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, the movie pretty much takes place in the theatre that night, with the beginning being filmed at Mickey's Diner, that fans of the Mighty Ducks movies might regonize that little diner, even from D3: The Mighty Ducks. My two biggest problems with the movie is that the oepnning credits are kind of well, how should I put it, boring? My other problem is, that I felt watching this movie, that they spent too much time showing what was going on backstage at the final broadcast, the actors kept talking over the songs. Okay so it might look 3 problems, I have with this movie. But if you are a big fan of the radio program, you will most denfily, or its music, you will certinaly this movie. If I wanted to see what goes on backstage at a progam like this, I would try to look for another movie that this happens, we could have seen more of the show, after all isn't backstage supposed to be private? The program's creator Garrison Keillor appears as himself, and he also hosts the program. The regular performers of this show, come back for the last show, and that the new owner, wants to take down the theatre, and put in a parking lot. And it ios almost show time, now radio shows for a certain station, are put on at the station itself, and every so often a live broadcast could happen form somewhere else. And not Prairie Home Companion, it was broadcasted from a theatre in front of a paying crowd, and people can also tune in on the radio. But GK being stubbron, doesn't want to say a few farewell wods to listeners, and refuses to do so. The regulars inlude sisters Yolanda and Rhonda Johnson (Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin), and they sing about memories of thier old home. Yolanda's daughter, Lola (Lindsey Lohan) is backstage writing poems about suicide. And there are singing cowboys Dusty and Lefty (Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly). And you also get a balladeer Chuck Akers (L.Q. Jones). And don't get me started about Guy Noir (Kevin Kline) who works for security that falls for lovely lady (Virginia Madsen). The movie got handed a PG-13, which is for the humor that goes on in the movie, so this movie won't really be appiorate for your kid, and you wou will kow your kids pretty then I do, but maybe at least wait until they are at the right age for this movie.

I am very critical of movies and rate them on three components; good acting, a believable story, and a great ending. This movie pushed past the 'great' peg on the dial. I LOVED this movie, and watched it six times this weekend. Each performer was great. Each duet was great. Every time I see a Woody H. movie, I become more and more impressed with that man's talent. The ending where the angel of death shows up still has me wondering whom she came for.I have been married for 32 years and now have employment that has me working hundreds of miles from home. My wife and I have been seperated by this employment for 9 months. Every night we talk on the phone, and at it's end, I sing to her a song. From now on, I will sing to her, "Goodbye to Momma". I just wish I could speak to any of the performers to thank them for this pearl.Having read just now that there are two A.P Carter songs in this movie, I realized that this movie follows the Carter/Cash world somewhat. The PHC is folksy and lots of fun, and so were June and Johnny. Clearly there was lots of love in the court of Cash with many many performers and friends visiting the Carter/Cash home for friendship and mothering. There seems to be a lot of that with the actual PHC as depicted in the movie and the list of actors in the movie. The movie played two of Mother Maybelles songs. The PHC came to an ubrupt end. The home of June and Johnny burned to the ground just after it was sold to Mr. Gibbs.Thanks everyone. I bought the sound track and the movie DVD.

this was a real treat , so much garbage on tv and theatres these days , enjoy with your family .

Last films often turn out to have surprising aspects, sometimes being out and out masterpieces like John Huston's The Dead, but often not. The lightweight tone of A Prairie Home Companion is more typical, but in this case it has more to do with Garrison Keillor's script than Altman's trademark overlapping dialogues and emphasis on ensemble. It is a lot about death - the last broadcast for the long-running radio show of the title, it features actors singing for real, essentially two duos. The first is formed of two sisters, played by Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin, the second of two cowboys, embodied with impeccable credentials by John C. Reilly and Woody Harrelson. There is a constant stream of performances before a studio audience, stitched together by Keillor himself as compere, who says a lot of advertising blurb in between numbers. At the same time, a ghost goes around the building ready to take the dead to God, and fancied (she is very beautiful) by a security guard played by Kevin Kline, who comes across more as a detective. There is a humorous patter to the whole film, shot in the cosy interiors of the theatre/studio where it is made. The two guys are more on the ribald side - a number of gags involve Reilly's butt, for some reason, either because too much of it is showing above his trousers (we hear) or because he has an attack of wind related to grief when another singer dies. These moments are very funny, in fact; the sisters and Streep's daughter, played by Lindsay Lohan, are more on the sentimental side in their choice of songs. Many people will love this film straight off; initially I found it a bit too winsome and too centred on country music - but if you give it time the magic becomes apparent; Reilly and Streep, in particular, give outstanding performances which really suggest they are on the cusp of acting and musical performances. It's just one of many ambiguities the film seems to hold afloat.

quiet humour typical of the radio show, great characters, lovely instrumental and vocal interludes. The extras, most unusually, are especially entertaining.

Desde el principio hasta el final uno escucha buena música, de la que ya casi no se oye o por lo menos no en todos lados. Fue muy interesante ver el desarrollo de un programa de radio en vivió. Me gustó mucho.

This is a wonderful, "down-home" story by super-talented author, Garrison Keillor. The actors obviously had a lot of fun with this film. Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin and the rest of the cast are superb in their roles. You won't be disappointed!