I don’t know exactly what I was expecting the result of the merging of Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor to be, but A Prairie Home Companion didn’t quite meet my expectations. That’s not to say the film isn’t good (it is very good) but with these two men and a cast of stars like Meryl Streep, Virginia Madsen, Kevin Kline, Lily Tomlin, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly I expected something more than just mildly diverting.
A Prairie Home Companion
3 & 1/2 Stars
Garrison Keillor and Robert Altman do a very good job of showing the final day of the small radio show before the curtain is pulled down for good. However when the film leaves the story for subplots involving an angel or the corporate hatchet man, it losses the feel and warmth that is so integal to making the rest of the film work. The end result is a very good film that had it been handled a little different could have been great.
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The film centers on an old time radio show that continues to broadcast in present day oblivious to the fact that time may well have past them by. The performers are like a large dysfunctional but loving family that on this night, the final night the show will be broadcast, say goodbye.
G.K. (Garrison Keillor) is the host of the show a consummate professional often lost in nostalgia if at times unable to express his feelings to others. Also part of the show are the Johnson sisters Yolanda (Meryl Streep) and Rhonda (Lily Tomlin) who have brough along Yolanda’s moody and death obsessed teenage daughter Lola (Lindsay Lohan) for the final show. Then there are the two singing cowboys with their off-color jokes and good humor (Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly). Rounding out the group are the pregnant stage manager (Maya Rudolph) and the head of security for the theater who alone seems stuck in cheesy pulp magazine Guy Noir (Kevin Kline).
There are many things that work well in the film. Keillor is amazing and gives the film its center. Harrelson and Reilly give strong supporting nods and prove they both have some vocal range. In fact in many ways the two out perform Streep and Tomlin who work well together but have put on better performances than this this. The scenes that work best in the film are the cast together performing one last time and celebrating and reminiscing times long gone by. These moments work so well that when we are taken away from them for other subplots the film loses its focus.
There has been constant hype over the performance of Lindsay Lohan in the picture, which after viewing the film perplexes me. Yes she’s not nearly as annoying as she has been in other films but that’s a far cry from giving a great performance. The moody and emotional Lola is played all on one level and there isn’t much there that we haven’t seen in countless other films. Far from holding her own with Tomlin and Streep, Lohan seems awed and shrunken in her scenes almost having to be led by hand through her movements and dialogue.
My main complaint with the film is the unnecessary subplot (one of many) involving Virgina Madsen (in the credits she is referred to as “Dangerous Woman”) who is a walking angel of mercy/spectre of death throughout the film. Aside from the fact the subplot distracts from the interesting personal stories of the performers, Madsen herself seems unsure of just who and what her character is – not surprising because the film can’t quite seem to make up its mind either. Is she etheral? Is she flesh? Is she merciful? Is she vengful? Nor is her appearance once explained satisfactory.
Also odd is Kline’s comically noir-ish character who seems to be written for a different movie. It’s through his eyes we first meet the cast but he then becomes a bumbling fool who it seems would lack the understanding and depth to have given his opening narration. In many ways Noir is to provide the outside eye to the rest of the cast but since he has been part of the family for years his character this doesn’t work; so like many of the smaller supporting cast, including Tommy Lee Jones, he is just taking up space in the film and getting in the way.
There are many reasons to go see this film including clever jokes, good music, a fine cast, and some nice performances. Still as I left the theater I felt the film never quite achieved its full potential. I’ll give you an example of one of the small choices that make a difference in a film like this one. The show ends in the big number with the cast on stage but Altman isn’t ready to end the film yet and so adds a hasty epilogue that takes place weeks later only then returning to the same scene on stage for the closing credits. In many ways the ending of the film perfectly illustrates the flaws found throughout where the creators of the film weren’t quite ready to trust the characters and emotions themselves and deciding they need to add more ingredients to the soup. The should have learned what ever good cook understands, sometimes too much extra flavoring can distract from a great dinner and leave it tasting rather ordinary.