A Prairie Home Companion

[teforde23]

I didn't notice that this movie was out yet. I see that it's completely bombing in it's 2nd week ($8 mil in 2 weeks). Some people were saying that this is La Lohans "adult actress" debut. Did anyone see it? Was it good? I wonder what the critics are saying about it

[aabbcc]

I've only seen commercials for it - they just started airing last week where I live. I haven't a clue what this movie is supposed to be about.

[Tati]

Review from The Toronto Star:

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...=1022183560753

"End of an era," a character laments in Robert Altman's new movie, when bad news breaks about the future of a broadcasting institution.

"There won't be anything left on the radio 'cept for people yelling at ya and computers playing music."

Excuse me, but didn't that era end long ago, around about the time Jimi Hendrix lit his last guitar on fire?

Well, not for fans of Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, the homespun musical comedy program that's "been on the air since Jesus was in the third grade," give or take a mid-life crisis or two.

With its weekly assortment of aw-shucking pickers and grinners, holding forth from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minn., under the avuncular eye of Keillor himself, the show is America without the arrogance, a place where folks feel uplifted rather than invaded.

It's the subject of Altman's latest, also called A Prairie Home Companion, and the thought occurs that there couldn't be a more appropriate topic or medium for the ex-bomber pilot from Kansas City, Mo.

Through four decades of contrarian filmmaking, Altman has resisted trends and dictums alike, preferring to let the structure of his movies play back fiddle to the enthusiasm of his large casts. Who needs a solid narrative when you have major actors lining up to be in your picture, just to share in the fun? And isn't Altman's directing style a bit like a person fiddling with a radio dial looking for interesting things?

The technique doesn't always work, but this time it does in spades, assisted by a screenplay from Keillor that both confuses and amuses. The Lake Wobegone prophet has delivered a story about a radio show much like A Prairie Home Companion, with the same house band (Guy's All-Star Shoe Band), musical guests (Robin and Linda Williams, Jearlyn Steele and Prudence Johnson) and characters (gumshoe Guy Noir and cowboys Dusty and Lefty).

Hollywood actors play the many characters that Keillor and other show regulars do on radio, and new creations have been added, notably the musical sisters duo of Yolanda and Rhonda Johnson (Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin) and a mysterious deux ex machina known as Dangerous Woman (Sideway's Virginia Madsen). Lindsay Lohan, playing Yolanda's daughter Lola, slips the bonds of teen comedy for a role considerably smaller and less convincing than her last teen comedy.

Most head-scratching of all is the dramatic proposition that this is the show's last evening, a situation — not mirrored in real life, where the show is going strong — that can't be fixed, even with extra helpings of Powdermilk Biscuits and rhubarb pie. In this version of the Prairie Home Companion tale, the show on station WLT is being killed by a Texas bean counter known as The Axeman (Tommy Lee Jones).

As explained by Kevin Kline's Guy Noir, who has assumed the role of the show's security guard and the movie's narrator, the fact that this very evening is to be the show's final broadcast is hard for a Midwesterner to accept, since Midwesterners have always believed "that if they ignored bad news, it would go away."

Which is pretty much what happens here, as the show goes on even as the axeman cometh. All the things that make A Prairie Home Companion the constant charmer it is are here in abundance, with songs about the joys of coffee, pie and corn liquor ("I'll give you my moonshine if you'll show me your jugs," Woody Harrelson's Dusty sings) and nonsense pitches for whimsical products like Norwegian herring products and miracle duct tape.

If you've always doubted the ability of Hollywood actors to hold a tune, you aren't likely to change your opinions much, since no one here was selected for their ability to shatter crystal. But it's just as likely that you'll be tapping your toes regardless, since the music is infectious and the exuberance is real.

As Tomlin's Rhonda says, "Singing is the only thing that puts me right," and who can argue with that hard-won knowledge?

Pass the Powdermilk Biscuits, slice the pie and serve the corn.

[AliceInWonderland]

WoW I thought this film would suck, even though I worship Altman, I thought he had lost it or something, but apparantly not...according to this critic anyway, and actually I never agree w/ critics so who knows.

[southernbelle]

I think most of Lindsay's recent movies have bombed... I wonder if it's just a coincidence or if her reputation really is screwing these movies over.