A Prairie Home Companion

Director: Robert Altman

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Meryl Streep,Garrison Keillor

Based on Garrison Keillor’s show of the same name, A Prairie Home Companion is an amusing, behind-the-scenes take on what occurs backstage during the show’s final broadcast. Despite having been on air longer than anyone can care to remember, the radio network’s new owners have decided to knock down the Fitzgerald Theatre in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, and turn it into a multi-storey car park. The show’s cast, therefore, want to ensure that the show they have dedicated so much to goes out with a bang.

First up, we have the Johnson Sisters (Streep and Tomlin). The fast-talking pair love to reminisce (albeit by talking over the top of each other) about their love for singing to anyone who will listen, which, nine times out of ten, tends to be Streep’s on-screen daughter Lindsay Lohan. Then there’s Garrison Keillor (famous in the UK for his Honda commercial narrations) who essentially plays himself as G.K., the show’s MC. Throw in Kevin Kline as the show’s security guard, as well as the film’s narrator, an angel (Virginia Madsen) who stalks the theatre like a modern-day Grim Reaper, and a mischievous singing cowboy duo with their repertoire of cheeky songs and you have all it takes to ensure that WLT’s last broadcast is its finest.

This film is without doubt one of the best that I have seen in recent times. Unlike many of Altman’s films that are a little too offbeat for general viewing, A Prairie Home Companion delivers something different. Whilst it cannot be called a mainstream film, its style is approachable and suitable for a wide audience. As a viewer, it is easy to become immersed in the film and feel as though you are part of the actual audience. The intimate cinematography creates a ‘last-show’ vibe, making you feel as though you’ve been let in on a secret and are lucky to be part of such a finale.

A Prairie Home Companion, complete with its all-star cast comprising some of Hollywood’s finest talent, ensures that Robert Altman’s fifty yearlong career spanning over eighty motion pictures ends on the highest possible note.

Ricky Anthony Wyatt