When something goes wrong on live radio, Prairie Home Companion, both the radio show performed in the film and the movie itself come alive. It's like two men fishing placidly in the middle of a calm lake until one gets hold of a mighty rebellious fish and both men jump to instant action. One of the few and far between moments that jump Prairie Home Companion to activity include a duct-tape gag which Garrison Keillor, the voice of the popular variety show both in reality and in this film, and other performers improvise after Molly, the assistant stage manager, who's usually the only one insisting on maintaining order and decorum, flubs the cue sheets. The three-to-four minute gag thoroughly entertains you as Garrison and the Johnson sisters (played by Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin) cook up wackiest uses for a duct-tape while the sound-effects guy (Tom Keith) gives complementary dog howls, helicopter noise etc until Molly (who's played by SNL regular Maya Rudolph) finds the right sheet. It doesn't just end there: Yolanda Johnson (Streep) also manages to convey her dejection towards Garrison's failed romance with her during the gag. The problem with Robert Altman's 'Prairie home Companion' is that it stays only marginally memorable; everyone in the film is too comfortable and laid-back, listlessly chattering and bantering with each other and the audience is expected to be all ears for these strangers' plain talk. Until the duct-tape moment, you begin to grow impatient for there is nothing much to keep you really interested. We learn in the beginning that Guy Noir (Kevin Kline), the radio show's security director who takes his work too seriously, is in search of a mysterious woman in white (Virginia Madsen) who's been lurking in the theater. It's the final day for the esteemed radio show and its regulars which include Johnson sisters and two singing cowboys (played by Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly) perform for one last time before the theater is demolished to build a parking lot. The mysterious woman in white is revealed to be Asphodel, an angel who visits the show to comfort its people and escort one to afterlife. Another visitor includes a businessman called 'The Axeman' (played by Tommy Lee Jones) who's the one responsible for pulling the plug on the show. The fate of these people is touching but it never touches you, for these people turn out as nothing more than broad caricatures whose lives are hardly used or explored in the plot. Streep's Yolanda is a chirpy, twittery, humble, good-natured and caring woman who can sing really well and Streep shows us such a woman during the film but there's nothing else she can do. Her character has little more to do than to define how such a character talks, moves, acts and sings and watching Streep do so much for a role with minimal character development makes us a little exhausted with her Yolanda. Her sister Rhonda (Tomlin) is less girly and bubbly and while Tomlin doesn't overdo her performance like Streep, she doesn't stay memorable both onstage and backstage. Yolanda's daughter Lola is played by perennially-suffering Lindsey Lohan, whose character likes penning depressing suicide poems but is very much delicate at heart and empathetic towards everybody. Lindsey isn't distracting until the last scene where she tries (badly) playing a busy workaholic with plenty of things on her mind. The two cowboys played by Woody Harrelson and John Reilly are the humorously irreverent sidekicks who bring in the laughs with their risqué humor and bad jokes (rather jokes in poor taste), another high point in the film. But again these aren't two cowboys we've been following through the years and so they're like new-kids-on-the-block for us when they appear in the film. The lack of exposition in Prairie Home Companion makes every character and every situation seem superficial and wispy. Either the film is for fans only (yet many of the characters except Garrison and Guy Noir weren't part of the radio show either) or the film lacks vitality. Was Asphodel the angel really needed in the film? Or did Altman see her as a greater symbol not just for the film but also for himself? One thing we know is that Altman got all the comfort from her soon after filming. Bad joke, huh?

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.

Garrison Keillor should get the Mark Twain Prize for humor, the National Medal of the Arts, and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Radio if he hasn't already. He really is a comedic American genius from St. Paul, Minnesota. This film is a must see for those who have listened to the radio show which was taped live at the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota for years and decades. The show reminded me of my visit and experience at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. The radio show included advertisements, music, humor, and story-telling in an American style. This film will put a smile on your face even if you don't like country music or easy going American style. Of course, the film's star is Garrison Keillor, an American living legend of humor. His style is approachable, realistic, and practical. The humor doesn't need to be offensive and it isn't on the Prairie home Companion. I love the cast which included Lindsay Lohan before her personal problems; Meryl Streep; Lily Tomlin; John C. Reilly; Woody Harrelson; Kevin Kline; Virginia Madsen; and Maya Rudolph among the regular players who perform on the actual radio show. This film, the radio show, and the story is as American as American pie.

I have to admit that I'm not a big country music fan. I do enjoy country while dance in a barn. However, listening to bad country music through out the movie was beyond my personal limit. Without the over one hour music, there only 20 minutes or so random pointless conversation left. I guess if you're die hard fan of the radio show "the Prairie Home Companion", you might like the movie. Otherwise, there isn't much appeal to offer others.All the performance were excellent except Keillor. I guess I'm not a fan of him. However all the wonderful stars can't save the bad movie because I don't give a damn about the characters. I felt like watching an old dog covered with its own feces reminiscing glory days, or a seventy years old show girl trying to do her last performance on stage naked. It's not a beautiful scene. Altman, what a sad man. He just couldn't keep up as Clint Eastwood.