A Prairie Home Companion
by Robert Altman
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Actor: Garrison Keillor, John C. Reilly, Lily Tomlin, Meryl Streep, Woody HarrelsonDirector: Robert Altman
Brand: Warner Brothers
Writer: Garrison Keillor
Producer: David Levy
Producer: Fisher Stevens
Producer: Frederick W. Green
Producer: George Sheanshang
Producer: Gerard Cafesjian
Writer: Ken LaZebnik
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 105 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-10-10
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: New Line Home Video
DVD Reviews of A Prairie Home Companion
DVD Review: Robert Altman's final work!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This was the final film Robert Altman directed!!! Like usual it has a large ensemble cast!!! R.I.P. Robert Altman,we'll miss ya,your were a ground breaking director!!!DVD Review: A style that works better over radio
Summary: 4 Stars
I watched this partly out of an impulse to revisit my Minnesota roots. But I guess everyone carries around their personal vision of where they grew up, and it won't necessarily coincide with someone else's. I didn't see much Minnesota in this film - GK is still very much GK, and his humor sometimes hits me right, sometimes not so much.
I think what I liked best about this movie was the singing. All of the singers were truly excellent. I had no idea Meryl Streep could sing so well and so expressively. Or that GK could, for that matter. He has an understated and relaxed style, but is a warm, solid bass, and seems to really enjoy their signature genres - bluegrass, gospel, folksy satire - which in fact I do too.
Streep's ability to imitate accents is legendary, but if she was trying to sound Minnesotan, she overshot her mark this time - her "meenly" for "mainly" was quite off. And I found her portrayal of a wishy-washy mom less than inspiring, though I'm something of a Streep fan. Lindsay Lohan did a better job on the rebellious suicidal daughter, which I enjoyed more once I stopped being distracted by her too-thick and prominent eyebrow job. Her singing was also top notch. I think Lily Tomlin provided some of the best acting in the whole picture.
Guy Noir was supposed to play a pathetic detective, and Kline's performance was admirable, but I found the character itself weakly conceived and underdeveloped. The "Angel" also set off a lot of ambivalence in me. The characters in this film tend to hover between stereotype and bumbling humanity, which can be charming, but in my view the combination fell short in several instances.
The opening with the risqu? jokes - which did make me laugh out loud - made me wonder if it was setting the tone for the whole movie. The answer is partly yes. I think GK got some kind of exhibitionist thrill out of appearing in his shorts in one scene.
One of the lines that made me feel I was finally seeing through to the real Garrison Keillor was his reply upon being asked what he planned to do now that his show was being forcibly terminated. He deadpanned, "I want a job where I don't have to talk at all." expressing, I guess, his weariness at constantly trying to come up with a smooth clever retort to everything. The movie overall seemed to ooze with opportunistic cynicism. I couldn't see where it was leading beyond a feeling of being fed up with everything.
I started watching the movie on my pc, but stopped in the middle planning to finish it later. The software packaged with the DVD failed completely when I tried to find my original place with fast forward, and the movie wouldn't open with my usual DVD software either, so I ended up taking it to a library to finish on a DVD player, which we don't have at home. I could view the rest of the movie OK, but then was unable to access the "Extras" at the end, since that part is formatted only for pc's. At that point I didn't feel like trying it on yet another machine and just let those go. So beware of possible technical problems if you plan to watch this on a computer.
If you're a GK or APHC fan, do by all means see this movie. I did enjoy it overall. Others will probably be hit or miss. It does have certain psychological interest if the prospect of analyzing GK and GK types in further depth intrigues you.
DVD Review: Wit, sense and fun
Summary: 3 Stars
Great humour, serious view on the meaning of life and a lot of musical fun - radio with a view.DVD Review: And for the 'non-Minnesotans' ?
Summary: 2 Stars
After noticing the on paper great cast we decided to give it a shot. It is interesting to read the disappointment among those familiar with the old radio variety show - then you can only imagine what it was like for those of us (the majority around the world I take it) that never even heard of it...
Leave aside a funny dialog between the two sisters (Streep and Tomlinson)where both spoke so fast and much they much have had to take a helping of bottled oxygen afterwards and a couple of funny country & western songs by Woody Harrelson and his buddy the movie moved nowhere fast and lacked completely in both plot and content.
If you embark on something clearly local the director must not assume all will be familiar with it in advance and build up a story around it or maybe more appropriately cast it more modestly and only release it in North East America.
So for anyone not at least 50 and from the Minnesota area of the US there are literally thousands of better movies to invest in and few you would regret more.
DVD Review: Great Service!.... 5 stars!
Summary: 5 Stars
Product was in perfect condition, Excellent service, great price.
I will use this supplier again and again.
Description of A Prairie Home Companion
The movie is a celebrity version of Garrison Keillor's radio show. It adds a slight story of the radio show ending as a new owner (Tommy Lee Jones) has bought the Fitzgerald theater that the show broadcasts from and is going to tear it down. Another fantasy element is thrown in as an angel (Virginia Madsen) stalks the theater to take one of the performers. Keillor plays the lead character coincidentally called GK. Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep play the singing Johnson Sisters with Lindsay Lohan as a suicide-obsessed daughter of Streep. Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly are hilarious as the slightly off-color singing cowboy duo Dusty & Lefty. Kevin Kline is a security guard who tells the story. Maya Rudolph also appears as a pregnant stage coordinator. Contains some mild sexually-oriented jokes.DVD Features:Available Subtitles: English SpanishAvailable Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1) English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)li>Commentary by director Robert Altman and actor Kevin KlineDeleted scenes with optional commentary"Come Play With Us: A Feature Companion" featurette"Onstage at the Fitzgerald: A Music Companion" - extended musical performances and advertisement segmentsSoundtrack preview (jump to songs in the film)TrailerSystem Requirements:Run Time: 105 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre:?COMEDY Rating:?PG-13 UPC:?794043105418 Manufacturer No:?N10541Robert 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
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