A Prarie Home Companion - B+

Robert Altman's fictionalization of the popular NPR radio show is a mild film that is easy to watch and as enjoyable as the folk music that makes up the bulk of the film's spectacle. Fans of the radio show will be pleased to see how Altman has preserved the spirit of the show, while perhaps not every detail (Powdermilk biscuits, and Guy Noir make the cut, Lake Woebegone does not). In this film, the radio show is a variety show that focuses on the music and fake commercials that make the NPR show so fun, while leaving out the long stories and clever monologues that Keillor is known for. In this movie Keillor plays a different version of himself: this one an oblivious, flat host with a penchant for sameness and not one to get too excited about anything. His foil is a wistfully naive Meryl Streep who plays one sister in a singing duo (the other is Lily Tomlin). Lindsay Lohan plays her daughter, a picture of the young generation who is coerced out of her anti-establishment mannerisms by the heartwarming steadiness of the radio show music. Kevin Kline plays a hilarious version of Guy Noir who in Altman's world, is not a private eye, but rather, an absentminded stage manager who fancies himself as one. Other notable cast members are Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilley as two country singers, Maya Rudolph as the overworked stage-worker person (what do they call those people that say "okay people...5 minutes?"), Tommy Lee Jones as the corporate "Axeman" and Virginia Madsen as the Angel of Death.

The plot is simple and focused on this being the show's last broadcast, and all of the conversations and relational dynamics that ensue. The cast blends well. Keillor, Harrelson, and Reilley's entertaining banter (almost certainly improvesational) is fun to watch, as well as Streep's fluttery personality contrasted with Tomlin's no-nonsense cynicism. Maya Rudolph is not particularly interesting, but it is hard for every character to be interesting with such outstanding oddballs as Keillor, Kline and Streep. There are several plotlines, the most ambitious of which being Madsen's angel plot (reminiscent of the Coen Brothers). This sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't, but it doesn't bring down the film at all. It doesn't add any explanatory complications in an otherwise intentionally simple movie, and Madsen's scene with Keillor is very sweet. The movie could be described as slow and uneventful, but that is what Altman is celebrating, the spirit of the ordinary and sameness that has always been the way of small town American life.