A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 189
Fresh: 153 | Rotten: 36
The final film by the great Robert Altman, A Prairie Home Companion, the big screen adaptation of Garrison Keillor's radio broadcast, showcases plenty of the director's strengths: it's got a gigantic cast and plenty of quirky acting and dialogue. Much like the radio show, Companion features clever jokes, rousing tunes, and endearing characters. With strong work from Lindsay Lohan, Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Tommy Lee Jones, it's a worthy swan song from one of the cinema's best.
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 43
Fresh: 32 | Rotten: 11
The final film by the great Robert Altman, A Prairie Home Companion, the big screen adaptation of Garrison Keillor's radio broadcast, showcases plenty of the director's strengths: it's got a gigantic cast and plenty of quirky acting and dialogue. Much like the radio show, Companion features clever jokes, rousing tunes, and endearing characters. With strong work from Lindsay Lohan, Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Tommy Lee Jones, it's a worthy swan song from one of the cinema's best.
liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 83,473
My Rating
Movie Info
Acclaimed filmmaker Robert Altman (Short Cuts, Nashville) brings National Public Radio stalwart Garrison Keillor's long-running radio program to vivid life on the big screen in a intricately woven backstage fable centering on the final performance of a fictionalized version of his variety show. As if the result of some strange mass-media fluke, the popular radio program A Prairie Home Companion somehow managed to survive the television age to entertain its audience every Saturday night from the
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor -
Meryl Streep
Yolanda Johnson -
Lily Tomlin
Rhonda Johnson -
Kevin Kline
Guy Noir -
Lindsay Lohan
Lola Johnson -
John C. Reilly
Lefty -
Woody Harrelson
Dusty -
Virginia Madsen
Asphodel -
Maya Rudolph
Molly -
Tommy Lee Jones
The Axeman -
Tim Russell
Stage Manager -
Susan Scott
Makeup Lady -
L.Q. Jones
Chuck Akers -
Marylouise Burke
Lunch Lady
ADVERTISEMENT
A Prairie Home Companion Trailer & Photos
All Critics (197) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (160) | Rotten (37) | DVD (21)
The movie, redolent of death, is a sort of wake, but a funny-sad one, teeming with music, corny jokes, and an ensemble of gifted performers who appear to be having an obscene amount of fun in one another's company.
Top CriticJust lovely, and a magnificently enjoyable coda to an extraordinary career.
It sparkles with a magic all its own as an engagingly performed piece of Midwestern whimsy and stoicism. Mr. Altman's flair for ensemble spectacle and seamless improvisation in the midst of utter chaos is as apparent as ever.
What a lovely film this is, so gentle and whimsical, so simple and profound.
Either you like that brand of music and humor or you don't. I am not a huge fan.
Pass the Powdermilk Biscuits, slice the pie and serve the corn.
...for the uninitiated, the story meanders far too much to resonate, and Altman's relentless focus on mortality dampens the show's amiable charm.
It looks and feels like an Altman film, but one made completely on a pointless lark.
Life is fleeting, but A Prairie Home Companion, slender and perfect, proves that art endures as a reminder of it
It is obviously the film of a master and certainly feels like a swan song.
Swan songs are seldom as sweet or melodic as A Prairie Home Companion.
The movie is a shaggy-dog trifle, but it's a sweet and lovely one.
Quirky and provocative film about relationships.
Altman's star-studded cast is natural and energetic -- with the exception of a surprisingly detached Keillor -- and the Hollywood folks mingle easily, in character, among the real show's performers, a technique Altman perfected in Nashville.
...a lovely and bittersweet fable about morality, the fleetingness of fame, drawing strength from the past and finding the inevitable beauty in the darkest of situations.
In its neatest trick of all, the script circumvents any criticism of its lack of timeliness by very literally casting the proceedings under a shadow of death.
uvid u djelo velikog majstora
Alternatively wistful and satirical, Prairie isn't an Altman classic, but it's a fine time.
This adaptation is highly-recommended for loyal devotees of the long-running radio show as a cinematic capstone on Keillor's magnificent career.
Audience Reviews for A Prairie Home Companion
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for A Prairie Home Companion yet.
Latest News on A Prairie Home Companion
June 7, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: Lucky "13" Hopes for Full HousesThe stars come marching out to do battle with the pirates for the number one spot this weekend.
November 28, 2006:
RTIndie: "Little Miss Sunshine," "Half Nelson" Lead Indie Spirit Award NomsIt's time again to celebrate the best that indie-land has to offer. The Spirit Award nominees are...
November 21, 2006:
Auteur Robert Altman Passes Away at 81Robert Altman, the esteemed and venerable director of "M*A*S*H," "Nashville,"...
What's Hot On RT
Trailer for James Franco adaptation
Star Trek is Certified Fresh
Rachel McAdams' time travel romantic drama
Trailer for Tom Hanks thriller
Featured on RT
- Weekly Ketchup: Will Smith to Star in Wild Bunch Remake? 33
- Critics Consensus: Star Trek Into Darkness is Certified Fresh 89
- Red Carpet Roundup: Star Trek Into Darkness Edition 0
- Video Interviews with Katie Aselton & Lake Bell of Black Rock 2
- VIP Access: Eli Roth talks Aftershock 1
- Total Recall: Star Trek Movies 93
- Parental Guidance: Star Trek Into Darkness 18
Top Headlines
-
J.J. Abrams Talks Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Wars, and More
0
-
Vin Diesel Says Fast & Furious 7 Will Begin a New Trilogy
7
-
Mickey Rourke Confirmed for Expendables 3
3
-
Brad Bird Still Mulling Incredibles 2
0
-
Reese Witherspoon, Jena Malone, and Martin Short Join Inherent Vice
0
-
Bruce Willis Makes an Expiration Date
2
-
Drew Pearce Hired for Mission: Impossible 5
0
Fresh Links
Featured
Star Trek Movies Ranked
HitFix offers their own take on the worst-to-best of the Enterprise crew's cinematic adventures.
Top 10 Star Trek Villains
Rolling Stone unveils the Enterprise's most irksome adversaries.
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback
We'll bet you never realized how many stars were cheerleaders and high school athletes!
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Weirdest Movie Siblings
From Twins to The Royal Tenenbaums, Moviefone explores cinema's oddest siblings.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Foreign Titles
- A Prairie Home Companion: Last Radio Show (DE)
- Ciné Pôle Sud (The Last Show) (FR)
