A Prairie Home Companion: Rating: 3 stars

A movie about a radio show? What will they come up with next?

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
2006 · PG-13 · Comedy
Reviewed May 17, 2007

I’ve been a fan of the titular old-timey radio show since I was a wee little kid — oh, Garrison Keillor, your voice still haunts my dreams! I even went to see it performed live. It’s a great show, there’s no argument about it—but how do you make a movie about a radio show? I watched this movie all the way through, and I still don’t have an answer. It’s not a bad movie, exactly — Robert Altman movies rarely are — but it didn’t seem to pull together well enough; the vaudevillian variety-show feel of the radio show just doesn’t translate well when applied to a film. Taken as a series of barely-connected vignettes, it’s amusing enough, but eventually everything starts to feel repetitious. Still, it’s worth seeing just for the star power; a film with this many good actors can’t be all bad. Garrison Keillor does not have a face made for the big screen (seriously, he makes Stephen King look handsome), but whenever he opens his mouth and that beautiful, velvety voice comes out, it’s like you’re a little kid again, waiting with bated breath for your favorite bedtime story. Kevin Kline doesn’t fit my mental image of private eye Guy Noir, but he pulls the role off with aplomb; most of the movie’s best moments involve him, even if he’s just at the edge of the shot. And I had no idea how strangely satisfying it would be to hear Meryl Streep sing the “Be-Bop-A-Re-Bop Rhubarb Pie” jingle.