Themes: Musician's Life, Small-Town Life, Mothers and Daughters
Main Cast: Garrison Keillor, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, John C. Reilly, Woody Harrelson, Virginia Madsen, Maya Rudolph
Release Year: 2006
Country: US
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Acclaimed filmmaker Robert Altman (Short Cuts, Nashville) brings National Public Radio stalwart Garrison Keillor's long-running radio program to vivid life on the big screen in a intricately woven backstage fable centering on the final performance of a fictionalized version of his variety show. As if the result of some strange mass-media fluke, the popular radio program A Prairie Home Companion somehow managed to survive the television age to entertain its audience every Saturday night from the stage of the historic Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, MN. Week after week, hangdog host Garrison Keillor serves as unflappable emcee to an amiable hodgepodge of radio-friendly acts that include the likes of popular country duo Yolanda and Rhonda Johnson (Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin) and singing cowboys the Old Trailhands (Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly). This is one show where the under-the-line antics are nearly as entertaining as the program itself, though, and in between the efforts of down-on-his-luck private dick and backstage doorkeeper Guy Noir (Kevin Kline) to discover the true identity of a mysterious blonde (Virginia Madsen) and aspiring teen singer Lola (Lindsay Lohan) to find her true voice before a live audience, there's still plenty of fun and mystery to be had at the old Fitzgerald before the final curtain falls on A Prairie Home Companion. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review
This big-screen adaptation of Garrison Keillor's long-running radio show A Prairie Home Companion, directed by an octogenarian Robert Altman, offers a beautiful synthesis of two unique artistic visions. Both an ode to old-time radio while a sly parody of it, Keillor's program has always attempted to achieve nostalgia through humor, music, and song. His pining for a lost time carries over to the fictional version of the show presented in the film, but Altman, just a few years removed from a heart transplant, obviously has mortality on his mind. He infuses this material with a sense of foreboding that dovetails nicely with Keillor's nostalgia to create a somber, downright sad film that still manages to produce smiles and laughs thanks to the actors and the performance material. Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep play a sister singing act, and their conversations in the film offer a clear example of everything that Altman does well with actors. To each other, and to Streep's daughter (a very game Lindsay Lohan), they spend much of the film telling long, rambling stories to each other about the history of their family during which they step on each others lines, digress to seemingly random topics, and offer unexpected but truthful emotional expressions of love and grief. Altman gives them plenty of room in the frame, so much so that after a while the audience may feel like they are eavesdropping on the conversations rather than watching written material being performed. Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly perform a hilarious song about telling dirty jokes, and the scenes of Streep and Tomlin singing together on-stage are as subtly and fully engaging as their dialogue scenes. Although A Prairie Home Companion will probably never be considered among Altman's classic works, it does offer the opportunity to witness a great artist never questioning the purpose of creating art and entertainment even as death feels closer than ever before. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Tommy Lee Jones - The Axeman; Tim Russell - Stage Manager; Susan Scott - Makeup Lady; L.Q. Jones - Chuck Akers; Marylouise Burke - Lunch Lady
Credit
Jeff Schoen - Art Director, Lowell Dubrinsky - Associate Producer, Pam Dixon - Casting, Catherine Marie Thomas - Costume Designer, Vebe Borge - First Assistant Director, Robert Altman - Director, Jacob Craycroft - Editor, Fisher Stevens - Executive Producer, William Pohlad - Executive Producer, John Penotti - Executive Producer, George Sheanshang - Executive Producer, Richard Dworsky - Musical Arrangement, Dina Goldman - Production Designer, Edward Lachman - Cinematographer, Robert Altman - Producer, David Levy - Producer, Joshua Astrachan - Producer, Wren Arthur - Producer, Tony Judge - Producer, Drew Kunin - Sound/Sound Designer, Garrison Keillor - Screen Story, Ken LaZebnik - Screen Story, Garrison Keillor - Screenwriter, Martin Czembor - Re-Recording Mixer, Michael Barry - Re-Recording Mixer, Eliza Paley - Supervising Sound Editor, Tora Peterson - Set Decorator, Patricia Payne - Co-Executive Producer, John H. Stout - Co-Executive Producer, Fred Green - Co-Executive Producer, Gerard L. Cafesjian - Co-Executive Producer, Armenia FilmStudios - Co-Executive Producer
A long-running live radio show is in danger of being canceled by new owners of the company that owns both the radio station and the theater from which the show is broadcast. The film takes place on their last night's performance, accompanied by two visitors. An angel (Virginia Madsen) calling herself Asphodel comes to comfort the people that work on this show and to escort one of the performers to the afterlife, while a representative of the new owners ("the Axeman," played by Tommy Lee Jones) arrives to judge whether the show should be canceled. He makes it clear that it is not what he considers modern popular programming, and though he too is escorted by the angel, the show is shut down anyway. In an epilogue at the end of the film the former cast members are re-united at a diner. Their conversation pauses as they are joined by Asphodel.
Because the Fitzgerald is a rather small building, other stagetheaters in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region had been considered as stand-ins. With some effort, the necessary film equipment was crammed into the structure. The basement was also used for sets due to lack of space. Set design also had to make the show more visually interesting, and fake dressing rooms were used in the film (the movie's production designer noted that Keillor's actual dressing room is "about the size of a very, very small bathroom"). Mickey's Diner, a landmark of downtown St. Paul, is also featured.
On November 1, 2005, the Star Tribune reported that an early screening in New York City for film distributors resulted in a heavy bidding war. Picturehouse bought the rights, and company President Bob Berney, "aiming to capitalize on the name recognition of the 31-year-old radio program, recommended that the title revert to A Prairie Home Companion. 'At the screening, Garrison said that to broaden the film's appeal, they were thinking about changing the name to Savage Love, so we may have an argument there,' Berney said." The main potential audience for the film is people familiar with the radio program.
The general reaction to the film by critics was favorable, as it garnered an 81% "fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, a site that tallies prominent reviews. Roger Ebert awarded the film four out of four stars, saying, "What a lovely film this is, so gentle and whimsical, so simple and profound."[4], and later added the film to his "Great Movies" list.[5]
It had its detractors, however. Film critic Michael Medved gave the film one and a half stars (out of four) saying, "The entertainment value stands somewhere between thin and non-existent" and, "[it may be] the worst movie ever made that pooled the talents of four (count ‘em - four!) Oscar winners"[6]
Desson Thomson from The Washington Post came between the two, saying that while the movie had its strengths, it was weaker than it should have been, in a review headlined "Honey, You Could Ask For More" (a reference to the opening theme song of the radio show and film)[7].
