A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

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REVIEW

I saw this movie twice on the weekend, as strange as that may seem, and even found it endlessly amusing the second time.

A Prairie Home Companion is Robert Altman’s latest movie; fans of Altman’s work will find that he’s at his tranquil best here, passing up an epic story to etch out an impressive roster of characters.

A Prairie Home Companion, in reality, is a popular mid Western radio program, hosted by Garrison Keillor, who wrote the script for the movie, and plays himself exceptionally well. If that seems redundant, try playing yourself in your own movie without looking like a buffoon. We’re all buffoonish in nature as it is.

The magic of this Altman Keillor combination, or as some might say, its downfall, is that the movie isn’t really about anything, nor does it really go anywhere. It’s just about one day in the life of a live radio variety show that about to be canceled and it isn’t easy to tell a monumental story in the space of one day.

What is possible, and what Altman has done extraordinarily well, is to craft a serene, touching film that combines fantastic classic American music with an incredible array of characters.

Oh, the cast. Having watched The Departed several weeks before, I never thought I’d see another cast as impressive, but A Prairie Home Companion pulls the belt one notch tighter. We’ve got Meryl Streep in one of the most impressive roles I’ve seen her in, Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly playing gags, Lily Tomlin and Tommy Lee Jones getting surly, and Kevin Kline as a cardboard cutout of a film noir gumshoe. Even Lindsay Lohan surprised me with her great singing voice.

A Prairie Home Companion Lohan and Streep sing Watching this movie, it becomes readily apparent that these Hollywood A-listers are, despite the fancy cars, the mundane interviews and the stupid party photos, incredibly trained professionals they’re all great singers, and the accents come out perfectly. It’s like watching a Swiss clock being assembled by forest trolls, or something equally unlikely, but hypnotic.

I dislike country music in general so much, in fact, that I almost didn’t see this film because of it. It’s something else in the film, though there’s enough soul and gospel in it to move the stoniest bastard in us all.

Robert Altman is 81, and despite the laughter in the movie, there’s an undercurrent of resigned sorrow to the film. One of the characters says it: “It’s not a tragedy when an old man dies…”

As I watched the film, I felt that this was Altman’s last one, his formal auto-eulogy before he exits the stage.

I say

I’m enthusiastic about a lot of films on this site, but that’s just because movies have been really damn good this year. A Prairie Home Companion is the perfect movie to remind you that life is enjoyable if the premise doesn’t grab you, the music will certainly transfix you.

See it for

The gumshoe, played by Kevin Kline, is a cheesy PI cliche, and it’s fantastic to see his bumbling, frantic antics.

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Also watch

• Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
• A Knight’s Tale (2001)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
• The Departed (2006)
• Dawn of the Dead (2004)