Review of A Prairie Home Companion (2006) by Logan M — 23 Feb 2017

When I lived in Minnesota, I never paid too much attention to Garrison Keillor out at Lake Wobegon and his Prairie Home Companion radio show. I watched this film primarily because it was directed by Robert Altman, his last film, and it certainly bears his stamp (overlapping dialogue, large cast, indirect focus, camera zoom, meandering non-plot).

The material is genial enough (written by Keillor) and well-suited to Altman's style. The age-old radio show is going to be shut down and the Fitzgerald Theatre demolished - we watch the last performance front-stage and back-stage.

There's some folksy country music (sung by the likes of Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Woody Harrelson, and John C. O'Reilly), some folksy stories and witticisms by Keillor, some informal friendly banter among old friends, and then some bits of plot thrown in to move the film along.

Lindsay Lohan is here doing not much. Don't start here with Altman but he does elevate the totally non-offensive material here. There's a place for this way back yonder in your parents' day, I think.