- Format: PAL
- Language English
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Number of discs: 2
- Classification: PG
- Studio: Universal
- DVD Release Date: 25 Jun 2007
- Run Time: 106 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B000O78EXO
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 43,897 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor combine reality and fantasy in this smooth, ebullient take on the long-running Prairie Home Companion radio show. Set during the show's fictitious last broadcast--the host station has been bought--the film has plenty of elements from the real PHC radiocasts, including a live audience and the sensational Shoe band. The onstage program is mostly music numbers, a beguiling mix of standards and old-style country. However, the show's usual comedy sketches are never presented, save for the commercial parodies--this may be a PHC show, but Lake Wobegone is never mentioned. Instead, the sketches are played out as backstage banter that feautres the Johnson Sisters (Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin), a harried stage hand (Maya Rudolph), a former listener turned angel (Virginia Madsen), and Keillor himself (a crusty alter-ego named simply G.K.). A few characters from the real PHC are given life: the singing cowboys Dusty and Lefty and gumshoe Guy Noir are embodied by Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, and Kevin Kline, respectively. Old flames are fanned, stories are spun, new talents are found (Lindsay Lohan has a chance to shine as Streep's daughter) and everyone wonders if G.K. will do something to ebb the tide of cancellation (personified by Tommy Lee Jones as the corporate Axeman). All of the actors do right as singers, and seem to be having the time of their life. Keillor's screenplay is perfect fodder for Altman's usual brand of storytelling, as characters babble on with the camera picking them up often in mid-thought. The film appeared a few months after Altman received an honorary Oscar, and the director is still at the top of his game, creating this smile-inducing, song-filled time, ending with an ethereal last musical number. --Doug Thomas
Synopsis
Cleverly adapted from the long-running radio series, A Prairie Home Companion is a comedy-musical tour de force written by Prairie host Garrison Keillor and directed by Oscar-winning auteur Robert Altman. Keillor stars as a fictional version of himself, leading his guests through what might be the end of an era: corporate bigwigs have bought the Fitzgerald Theatre, where the radio show is aired live, so the cast and crew are dedicated to putting on one great final show before their long-time home meets the wrecking ball. Altman alternates between backstage intrigue and the classic, old-time music being played in front of a dedicated audience, mixing fact with fiction in humorous and poignant ways. Among the performers are sister act the Johnson Girls--Yolanda (Meryl Streep), Rhonda (Altman regular Lily Tomlin), and Yolanda's daughter, Lola (Lindsay Lohan); aged folkster Chuck Akers (L.Q. Jones), who is having a torrid sexual relationship with the lunch lady (Marylouise Burke); the raunchy duo of singing cowpokes, Dusty (Woody Harrelson) and Lefty (John C. Reilly); and real Prairiecontributors Jearlyn Steele, Robin and Linda Williams, and the Guys All-Star Shoe Band, led by Richard Dworsky. As the show goes on, bumbling private detective and security chief Guy Noir (Kevin Kline) pratfalls his way through an investigation of a mysterious woman in white (Virginia Madsden) while awaiting the arrival of the Axeman (Tommy Lee Jones), the corporate honcho ready to close the show down. Meanwhile, pregnant stage manager Molly (Maya Rudolph) tries to keep things moving smoothly despite almost insurmountable odds. The outstanding soundtrack features both old and new songs (as well as fabulous commercial jingles) written by Keillor and others and actually performed by the diverse, talented cast, including such numbers as ‘Gold Watch & Chain’, ‘Old Plank Road’, ‘My Minnesota Home’, and ‘Red River Valley’.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a charming and very engaging film,
By Mr. Ian A. Macfarlane "almac1975" (Fife, Scotland) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: A Prairie Home Companion [DVD] (DVD)
I found this film absolutely charming. It's whimsical and fairly slow-moving, but so many delightful things happen along the way that it hardly matters. The music hall is due to be closed down - it has outlived its time - and we witness its last evening. Various acts perform : Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin are the singing Johnson sisters (both excellent, and Streep a revelation as a Country-and-Western performer ; she is a real show-stopper), Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly a cowboy double-act with a penchant for blue jokes, very corny and very funny. Kevin Kline is Guy Noir, the security man, a third rate private eye, and Virginia Madsen appears mysteriously in a white coat - she represents the end, closure, death itself. Holding it all together is Garrison Keillor, himself a first-rate performer and very good in this film, and the film does have structure as the show awaits the arrival of Tommy Lee Jones, who will close it down ; the consequences are to some extent unexpected. It was Robert Altman's last film and bears many of his hallmarks, the camera meandering around the characters and observing their performances, their conversations, their private behaviour. It ends in a diner, an effectively bitter-sweet ending which leaves at least one question unanswered. I enjoyed every minute of the film, and it's nice to have it on DVD with quite a few extras - commentary by Kline and Altman, how the film was made, interviews and deleted scenes.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gentle and worthwhile.,
By
This review is from: A Prairie Home Companion [DVD] (DVD)
End-of-an-era stuff: this is the quirky Robert Altman fictionalisation of Garrison Keillor's regular old-timey family radio show. To provide a story-backbone the film imagines the radio-show coming to a sudden end as the station is sold and as a company `axeman' comes to clear-out the old stuff. The premise is eccentric and the delivery heartfelt, personal and hugely affecting. Death and afterlife are explored in a gentle manner that gains additional significance given that we already know Altman died shortly after completion. This is a special movie.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Selightful,
By
This review is from: A Prairie Home Companion [DVD] (DVD)
A wonderfully romantic portrayal of a dinosaur of a show - a pre-television radio variety - stumbling to a dignified extinction. Admire GK's unflappable professionalism (and the real Keillor's triumph), laugh at the advertising and feel strangely warm inside. A worthy close to Altman's career; it's as if the angel comes for him.
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