When some people hear the name Robert Altman, they picture an acclaimed filmmaker who always seems to rear his head at the
Oscars in some form or another. When I hear Robert Altman, no matter how hard I try, I think of "Gosford Park," which, while a critical darling, was one of the dumbest, most pointless and most boring movies I have ever watched. So, with great trepidation did I plug "A Prairie Home Companion" into my DVD player... and how pleasantly I was surprised.
"A Prairie Home Companion" takes a fictional look at the last day of broadcast for the real show "A Prairie Home Companion," a radio variety show that offers random jokes and songs that one has to hear to get a sense of what this program is all about. Being of young years I know absolutely nothing about this radio show, nor, had I known something about it, would have ever listened to it on the radio. That being said, Altman''s movie is an entertaining, heartwarming mini-masterpiece that offers an amazing cast, a great screenplay and lots of good music, even if it is music I wouldn''t be caught dead listening to in any other place or time.
I won''t go into how good each individual cast member is, because all do sensational jobs no matter how large or small their roles are. Instead, I will just list the cast members and you will know exactly what I''m talking about: Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin. Garrison Keillor, who wrote the movie and who also is the creator of the radio program, is fabulously entertaining (and by looking at him I understand why he went into radio, no offense meant).