A Prairie Home Companion reviewed

A Prairie Home Companion

Altman and Keillor create easily one of the most fun movies I've seen in quite a while.

While they may be appreciated, APHC fans need not apply, this movie truly has something to offer beyond being a good-natured feature length radio show. The characters are incredibly charismatic, most notably with Guy Noir's (Kevin Cline) hilariously well-timed wannabe detective narration to the unabashed crude humor featured by Lefty and Dusty (John C. Reilly and Woody Harrelson), and the music also is some of the best heard since O Brother Where Art Thou? Like any other Altman film, the film takes its sweet time in unfolding and-- almost appropriately given the old-time subject of the film-- moves at a snails pace, but all the meandering is really just to get you further involved into each of the characters and to finally get a sense of what it is that they're all living for, that being the radio show. The inclusion of Virgina Madsen as the role of Dangerous Woman adds a flair of not only the supernatural but also brings to light one of the darker layers that can continuously be felt throughout the film. As an Altman fan, I would have to say that this is one of the best projects that he has been a part of, and everyone from Garrison Keillor to Lindsay Lohan do an outstanding job in their portrayal of a forgotten art form that's well worth hearing about.

Overall Rating: 98

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