A Prairie Home Companion
Robert Altman
USA
Except for a short seven-year break, A Prairie Home Companion has been on the radio every week since 1974 and has an enormous fan base across the country. The show, created and hosted by Garrison Keillor, is a live variety show featuring American folk music and comedy with segments dedicated to monologues and radio dramas. Broadcast from Saint Paul, Minnesota, it is a show with very Midwestern sensibilities and a witty and warm sense of humor. The film, A Prairie Home Companion, is based on a fictional version of this show during it's last night on the air as a large corporation buys out the radio station and the theatre it is performed in and decides to shut it down. The film is written by Keillor and is the legendary director, Robert Altman's, last film as he died five months after its release. Altman is best known for his large ensemble cast films such as Nashville, MASH, Short Cuts, The Player and Gosford Park. He is also known for his films McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye and 3 Women. Because of his age and his health, Paul Thomas Anderson was hired to watch the shooting and step in if Altman could not finish the job which, thankfully, never happened. A few years later, Anderson ended up dedicating his amazing film, There Will Be Blood, to Altman.
The film opens with Guy Noir, one of the real APHC show's most popular fictional characters and star of a weekly old-time radio drama portion of the show, narrating the feature and introducing the characters to us. Played by Kevin Kline, he is an out of work private detective, forced to take work as “Vice President of Security and, uh, Data Acquisition” at the theatre the show appears in. In other words he's a glorified doorman with delusions of grandeur but he is very funny as he chases Virginia Madsen playing a “Dangerous Woman” who might be the Angel of Death through the premises of the theatre throughout the film. Also present is Garrison Keillor himself as the host of the program, Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin as Yolanda and Rhonda Johnson, the last two members of a family singing act, Yolanda's daughter Lola played by Lindsay Lohan, and Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly as Dusty and Lefty, the singing cowboys. The singing cowboys are two more fictional characters from the radio show brought to life on film and it looks like the two stars had a lot of fun with these roles, making bad jokes with genuine chemistry on stage. Tommy Lee Jones plays the “Axeman,” a character representing the corporation who is here to cancel the show. The cast is rounded out by many musicians and actors brought over from the real radio program.
One would think Lindsay Lohan might bring the rest of the film down considering her current reputation but she does well in her role and even gets her own stand out moment at the end of the show. My favorite moment was the song an old cowboy, played by L.Q. Jones, sings and the events directly following with the Angel of Death coming for him. It is a sad moment but it also very heartfelt with his lover finding his body and embracing him one final time. Garrison Keillor is very good as the host of the program who always manages to drive his pregnant assistant crazy by telling endless stories and moseying up to the stage at the last possible second. Meryl Streep also plays a great character as as singer and former lover of G.K.'s and has a kind of scatter-brained demeanor which causes her to not be able to finish a thought. She does some great singing in the film as the lead of the two sisters (Lily Tomlin's voice is not that great, unfortunately) and she won the Best Supporting Actress Award from the National Society of Film Critics for her role.
The film is full of gentle beauty and heart with a joyful sense of humor that never insults. The laughs are based on witty repartee and corny old jokes. To fully appreciate the film you may have to listen to an episode of the program, which are archived on the shows website, or check out clips on Youtube to get an idea of what it's like. Even if you haven’t heard of the radio show before, you can still find something to enjoy whether its the great music, the funny dialogue or maybe even just the Midwestern ambiance and beautiful theatre setting. This is actually the real Fitzgerald Theatre in Saint Paul where the A Prairie Home Companion show is taped live every week, unless the company is on the road. St. Paul is also the hometown of Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts, which I think shares a kinship with the radio program, being based on small-town living where life seems to go by a little slower. This film is recommendable as one of the warmest good films in recent memory.
Rating: 8/10
-Ryan Sallows
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