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Product Description
Amazon.ca
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
Product Description
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (1.85:1) - Enhanced for 16 X 9 television. Actors: Garrison Keillor - Kevin Kline - Lindsay Lohan - Tommy Lee Jones - Woody Harrelson. Director: Robert Altman. Format: DVD. Format Size: Widescreen. Runtime: 106 mins. Language: English. Subtitle: English Subtitles. Region code: Region 1 (United States Canada Bermuda U.S. territories). Discs: 1. Rating: Unrated. Genre: Comedy. Subgenre: Drama. Release Year: 2006.
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Most helpful customer reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Film of 2006,
By
This review is from: A Prairie Home Companion (DVD)
I also saw this in the theatres expecting something borderline and walking out thinking it was one of the better films I've seen in a long time. Never was aware that Garrison Keilor had this real radio show going on all these years but its transformation into a movie is without a doubt a stroke of movie magic. Not normally a fan of Robert Altman who tends to gather large casts of great celebrities into long, drawn out films with virtually no plots. However, this is truly an exception. GK's script stays faithful to his radio show while the varied cast adds life to characters. The film starts out slowly and you never know just where its going to go but by the end it all gels and you walk away feeling good. This is definitely the sleeper hit of 2006. Surprises? Normally - Woody Harrelson whom I find irritating is not so much in this, Meryl Streep really can sing and Lindsay Lohan as the typical "I hate life" daughter who appreciates her mom and turns macabre into silly fun at the end. Highly recommended.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sleeper Gem,
By Brownie (Waterloo, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Prairie Home Companion (DVD)
A Prarie Home Companion is a gem of a movie. Sub plots, corny and clever humour, great band, great acting (even by brat Lohan), leaves you wanting more - as well as leaving some plot lines unresolved.
1.0 out of 5 stars
If This Was My Only Companion of The Prairie ...,
By
This review is from: A Prairie Home Companion (DVD)
I just saw this movie in the theatre, and found it one of the most boring and irritating movies I have ever had to sit though. I never saw characters and actors so smug and filled with their own importance! If I had not been with a group, I would have fled to the exit about one hour in. As it was I had to sit though the entire six hours! (Well it seemed that long!)Kevin Klein was so mannered and irritating that he is unwatchable! and what was that nonsense about the angel of death who flitted in and out with no purpose? Meryl Streep can actually sing, but who in the world told Lily Tomlin she could? In short, it was a self indulgent mess that I could never be paid to sit through again, let alone buy. If my family wants to hear me scream, they just whisper "A Prairie Home Companion" in my ear.
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