A Prairie Home Companion ***
Cast: Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, Tommy Lee Jones, Virginia Madsen, Lindsay Lohan
Director: Robert Altman
Running Length: 1:45
MPAA Classification: PG-13

“A Prairie Home Companion” is a fictionalized story of the famous radio show’s very last performance. The movie covers the show itself, hosted by Garrison Keillor (playing himself), the goings on backstage, and a little action before and after the show. Besides having to deal with a corporate axeman (Jones) who is there to officially pull the plug, they have to deal with a death mid-show and a mysterious woman (Madsen), who wanders about backstage. On stage, three skit characters from the real radio show come to life: Guy Noir (Kline), and the cowboy singing duo of Dusty (Harrelson) and Lefty (Reilly). Other characters are a combination real and fictional people).

This film is a slightly skewed view into the world of Garrison Keillor (he wrote the screenplay) and his famous radio show. It is a “nice” movie, that will amuse most who see it. Keillor’s and director Robert Altman’s styles seem to be made for each other, and this film works well to give an insight into the radio show. Performances are solid all around, especially Keillor’s. He is the glue that holds this all together. I recommend this film.