A Prairie Home Companion

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.

Great entertainment, well worth adding to your Altman collection.

If you like Garrison Keeler, you’ll love this movie based on his Prairie home companion radio series.

Love the Prairie Home Companion? You'll love this funny and emotional heart felt ride.

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.

Family favorite movie at long-last available in Blu-ray. Arrived fast & in perfect condition.

I live in Minnesota and have listened to Prairie Home (as we call it) since 1976. I have also performed on the show a few times myself. So when I heard they were making a movie of it, my first thought was what a great idea - and I still believe it could have been. First the good stuff: I loved Robert Altman's brilliant direction - he captured the backstage look and feel of the show incredibly well. Second, what really shone here, as they do in every live APHC show, were the regulars like Robin and Linda Williams, Rich Dworsky, Pop Wagner, Prudence Johnson, Peter Ostruschko, Jearlyn Steele, Adam Granger, Butch Thompson and the brilliant Tom Keith who plays himself as the genius special effects man. But ultimately this film fails for several reasons. One is that it needed ONLY the real APHC regulars rather than professional film actors. The "hollywood" cast did the best they could with Keillor's dreadful script, but ended up just looking uncomfortable, tired and foolish. And what finally did this film in was the totally creepy, stupid and unneccessary "angel of death" thing. Bottom line: Watching a great radio show live is a VERY different thing from watching a movie of it. APHC's GREAT musicians, funny "ads" and amazing monologues are why we've been tuning in for 40 years and there should have been a lot more of that and a LOT less "hollywood" in this film.