Camoo Entering into an Altman film is exactly that - 'entering'. We're never properly introduced to the characters as much as we are dropped into their world and made to keep track of the faces we meet along the way. Watching A Prairie Home Companion is to see a the great joy of creation - actors, writers, designers, musicians all allowed to roam free and do what they do best. The film is a sprawling homage to the radio show, and fans will find a lot to enjoy here. Familiar characters played by familiar actors pop in an out of each scene, giving the impression of a large family enjoying each others company. Though there was a working script, very little of the film feels scripted. Scenes flow from one chapter to another with a fast paced choreography which nods back to previous Altman films like 'Nashville', the action all taking place in a contained space, the actors playing off each other like a ping-pong tournament. This being Altman's final film - the woman in white no doubt signifies a lot more than might have been intended. You get the feeling that he felt the end was coming, and that he damn better well have fun before he got there.

gregeichelberger Originally published on June 9, 2006:The pairing of Robert Altman ("M*A*S*H," "The Long Goodbye," "Come Back To The Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean," "The Player," "Gosford Park") and Garrison Keillor, the creator of the long-running radio show, "A Prairie Home Companion" (and author of "Lake Wobegone Days") for a film version of PHG may have seemed a bit odd at first, but the results are inspired.The former's frantic, non-stop dialogue-fueled energy mixes well with the latter's laid-back, down-home, almost sleep-inducing style (with a voice so syrupy you could pour it over your flapjacks), to create Altman's best ensemble work since 1975's "Nashville." In fact, there's a lot of that classic film in this telling of PHC's last night on the air.There's also some of "Waiting For Guffman" and "A Mighty Wind" vibe in the mix, making this film a parody and a homage all at the same time.Narrated by Kevin Kline (who plays security officer Guy Noir, complete with a decades old pinstriped suit), like Bogart's Sam Spade in any number of 1940s detective films, "Companion" weaves a fascinating tale of a radio variety show that should have "died 50 years ago; only no one told" the performers. Now, with a Texas corporation buying station WLT in St. Paul (the bloodsuckers represented by Mr. Axeman - Tommy Lee Jones, "Men In Black II"), and planning to shut it down, this is its last Saturday night performance.And what a bittersweet performance it is. Down home homilies, songs of faith, banjo and guitar pickers, sweet harmonics, a torch song or two, a pair of hilarious cowboys, Dusty and Lefty (Oscar nominees Woody Harrelson, "The People vs. Larry Flint" and John C. Reilly, "Chicago"), the singing Johnson sisters (Meryl Streep and "Nashville" vet, Lily Tomlin, the latter almost sure to get her second Academy Award nomination for this role), and commercial messages (for shoes, herring, rhubarb pie filling, coffee and powder-milk biscuits) that are blatantly ridiculous (yet oddly persuasive) - all presided over by Keillor's gentle ringmaster. By the way, even though he's basically playing himself, Keillor's performance is marvelous, as are all of the actors.These warm moments balanced out Altman's silly subplot of an Angel of Death (Virginia Madsen, "Candyman," "Sideways") who visits the set of that last episode, giving the entire enterprise a rather unnecessary otherworldly feel. I could have done without these distracting sequences, but they do not interfere with the overall work - too much.Nevertheless, with some powerful performances, some great tunes and skits (the bad joke song by Dusty and Lefty is the funniest thing I've seen on the screen in a long time), the crisp writing Altman and Keillor are known for, and an interesting storyline, "A Prairie Home Companion" is well-worth the effort to see (even though you may have to go a bit out of your way to do so). It's moving at times, and a bit surreal in places, but overall a thoroughly enjoyable slice of Americana.

G K The film chronicles the frenetic comings and goings backstage as the last-ever performance of a long-running radio show, featuring country music and variety acts, gets under way.A Prairie Home Companion is a delectable swan song to the career of its great director; Robert Altman died in November 2006. Minor in both key and stature, it's corny, good-natured and old-fashioned, rather like Garrison Keillor's real radio show that gives the film its title. Still, it has a decent story: the show is about to be taken over by a philistine Texas corporation and closed down. Fittingly, the shadow of death hovers gently over the story. It seems faintly symbolic, but Altman's camera drifts around backstage, peeking through curtains, nosing into nooks and crannies: a systematic way to convey information. Impeccable timing and effortless grace are the watchwords for this gentle, middle brow delight. The film had a successful limited release in the States and grossed $20,338,609 domestically and $25,978,442 worldwide.

mike-seaman A Praire Home Campanion, Robert Altman's last film, was one of his weakest. The film moves nowhere and does so slowly. It also attempts a sort of time dualism, the modern world is passing outside while the 1930s are moving on inside the radio world. It simply doesn't entirely work. Virginia Madsen's character as the Angel of Death is a failed experiment at metaphor and symbolism, creating nothing more than a largely useless character.The two most disappointing performances are Kevin Kline as Guy Noir, a character that is cardboard and his gags are largely lacking. The other is Lily Tomlin who seems to be sleepwalking through the film.The only characters I found even remotely interesting and amusing where performed by Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly, a pairing that played very well off of each other.Overall A Prairie Home Campanion is basically a fictional documentary about largely uninteresting people, telling uninteresting stories.