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A Prairie Home Companion
 
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A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

Starring: Lily Tomlin, Meryl Streep Director: Robert Altman Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Format: DVD
3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (163 customer reviews)

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Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this DVD with A Prairie Home Companion With Garrison Keillor (30th Anniversary Season Celebration) DVD ~ Garrison Keillor

A Prairie Home Companion + A Prairie Home Companion With Garrison Keillor (30th Anniversary Season Celebration)


Product Details

  • Actors: Lily Tomlin, Meryl Streep, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, Garrison Keillor
  • Directors: Robert Altman
  • Writers: Garrison Keillor, Ken LaZebnik
  • Producers: David Levy, Fisher Stevens, Frederick W. Green, George Sheanshang, Gerard Cafesjian
  • Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
  • Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
  • Subtitles: English, Spanish
  • Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
  • Studio: New Line Home Video
  • DVD Release Date: October 10, 2006
  • Run Time: 105 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (163 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000H6SXYM
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,375 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

    Popular in this category: (What's this?)

    #5 in  Movies & TV > Comedy > Comedy Stars > Lily Tomlin

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor combine reality and fantasy in this smooth, ebullient take on the long-running Prairie Home Companion radio show. Set during the show's fictitious last broadcast--the host station has been bought--the film has plenty of elements from the real PHC radiocasts, including a live audience and the sensational Shoe band. The onstage program is mostly music numbers, a beguiling mix of standards and old-style country. However, the show's usual comedy sketches are never presented, save for the commercial parodies--this may be a PHC show, but Lake Wobegone is never mentioned. Instead, the sketches are played out as backstage banter that feautres the Johnson Sisters (Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin), a harried stage hand (Maya Rudolph), a former listener turned angel (Virginia Madsen), and Keillor himself (a crusty alter-ego named simply G.K.). A few characters from the real PHC are given life: the singing cowboys Dusty and Lefty and gumshoe Guy Noir are embodied by Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, and Kevin Kline, respectively. Old flames are fanned, stories are spun, new talents are found (Lindsay Lohan has a chance to shine as Streep's daughter) and everyone wonders if G.K. will do something to ebb the tide of cancellation (personified by Tommy Lee Jones as the corporate Axeman). All of the actors do right as singers, and seem to be having the time of their life. Keillor's screenplay is perfect fodder for Altman's usual brand of storytelling, as characters babble on with the camera picking them up often in mid-thought. The film appeared a few months after Altman received an honorary Oscar, and the director is still at the top of his game, creating this smile-inducing, song-filled time, ending with an ethereal last musical number. --Doug Thomas

Product Description
A LOOK AT WHAT GOES ON BACKSTAGE DURING THE LAS BROADCAST OF AMERICA'S MOST CELEBRATED RADIO SHOW, WHERE SINGING COWBOYS DUSTY & LEFTY, A COUNTRY MUSIC SIREN & A HOST OF OTHERS HOLD COURT.

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Customer Reviews

163 Reviews
5 star:
 (63)
4 star:
 (33)
3 star:
 (22)
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 (23)
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Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (163 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
95 of 111 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Death and awful jokes: A wonderful Prairie Home Companion, June 15, 2006
By C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I wish I'd said this: A Prairie Home Companion is a lovely film about death, and with some great bad jokes. Death and how we deal with it drifts through the film like a dream, but it turns out to be real. Word has gotten around that the 30-year-old radio program is giving its last show. The theater where it has been broadcast from all these years has been sold and will be turned into a parking lot. A woman in a white trench coat moves dream-like through the place, searching for a person whose time has come, and then finds him. And then she finds another. Memories of past successes are talked about, but sometimes not. Reminiscences are wept over or laughed over. The backstage emergencies happen and are dealt with and the radio show goes on. It's just a marvelous movie. People who dislike the actual A Prairie Home Companion will probably not like this movie. Those who do like the radio show I'm sure are going to run out and buy the DVD of the movie as soon as it's available.

Garrison Keillor is not center stage so much as he's the imperturbable head guy who isn't always there, even when he's there. Most of the regular members of the radio show are present, as well as some new names. Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep are incredibly authentic and incredibly funny/poignant as the two remaining members, Rhonda and Yolanda Johnson, of a country-music family singing group. Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly are great as the dim cowboys, Lefty and Dusty. Their bad-jokes song is one of the highlights. Guy Noir looking like Kevin Kline tries to keep a lid on the crises. Streep and Tomlin (and Harrelson and Reilly) sing their own stuff and they are first class. Tomlin, in particular, gives a terrific performance as Rhonda, tough, funny, a little bitter and a trooper.

After 105 minutes you may find death not too frightening, may find a kind of comforting acceptance of life, and may find funny some awful jokes...like the name of the country song Lefty sang on last week's show, "I'll Give You My Moonshine If You Show Me Your Jugs." Or a great new wheezer, "Did you hear about the crate of Viagra that was stolen?" "No! Who took it?" "The cops don't know but they're looking for hardened criminals."

I also wish I'd said this, from the New York Times: A Prairie Home Companion isn't great, it's wonderful.
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining radio experience!, June 9, 2006
This is definitely one of the most entertaining film experiences I've had in a while. Garrison Keillor plays himself in this musical dramady that depicts the sundown performance of the popular National Public Radio program "A Prairie Home Companion". Robert Altman directs the screenplay by Keillor. The film is nostalgic in timbre with elements of noir detective mystery. Keillor's dry and straight-faced humor coupled with the stellar performances of the star studded caste makes this film a must see. I saw it in a packed theatre which helped create the experience of actually being in the audience of the real show. As the show's last performance ensues, we are given a look into the private lives of the shows performers and the past life of one of the show's listeners. "A Prairie Home Companion" is smart, funny and musically astute, just like the real show. NPR fans will get an extra lift from this flick but anyone with a bit of wit and an ear for great story telling is bound to find this movie enjoyable. Highly Recommended!
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The Cinema From Lake Wobegon, June 25, 2006
By Scott Rivers (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
Robert Altman turns Garrison Keillor's long-running radio show into a truly unique experience. In less capable hands, this celluloid translation could have been disastrous. However, Altman is the perfect filmmaker to capture Keillor's musical and storytelling charm. An impressive cast (Woody Harrelson, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, John C. Reilly, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin) complements Keillor's radio ensemble with their comedic and vocal talents. Though a bit pretentious at times (Virginia Madsen's "Dangerous Woman" gradually wears out her welcome), Altman and Keillor maintain a comfortable tone of lighthearted nostalgia. Not for all tastes, but a must for any "Prairie Home Companion" listener.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Wow that was bad.
How can so many talented people make a movie this bad? Given all of the positive reviews it had received, I was really looking forward to seeing this film. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Robert S. Moyer

5.0 out of 5 stars Robert Altman's final work!!!
This was the final film Robert Altman directed!!! Like usual it has a large ensemble cast!!! R.I.P. Robert Altman,we'll miss ya,your were a ground breaking director!!!
Published 4 months ago by Jason Pumphrey

4.0 out of 5 stars A style that works better over radio
I watched this partly out of an impulse to revisit my Minnesota roots. But I guess everyone carries around their personal vision of where they grew up, and it won't necessarily... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Karen Chung

3.0 out of 5 stars Wit, sense and fun
Great humour, serious view on the meaning of life and a lot of musical fun - radio with a view.
Published 6 months ago by Wolfgang Schilk

2.0 out of 5 stars And for the 'non-Minnesotans' ?
After noticing the on paper great cast we decided to give it a shot. It is interesting to read the disappointment among those familiar with the old radio variety show - then you... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Morten Lokkegaard

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Service!.... 5 stars!
Product was in perfect condition, Excellent service, great price.
I will use this supplier again and again.
Published 9 months ago by Ronald W. Garceau

4.0 out of 5 stars The Death of an Old Man is Not a Tragedy
A Prairie Home Companion is a great tapestry of storytelling. On the evening of the last show before being bought out and consumed by a corporate rival, the cast members of the... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Douglas M. Stich

1.0 out of 5 stars Idea: OK - Execution: Terrible - Intent: Dubious
I won't repeat what a lot of the one-stars here are saying, much of which I agree with. It wasn't the plotlessness and the stereotyping that truly bothered me the most, it was... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Hudson Valley thinker

4.0 out of 5 stars Meryl's accent is worth it
I have been a fan of Prairie Home Companion (radio) for a while and think this movie is a great companion piece.
No, it is not a film version of the radio broadcast. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Jizmo

2.0 out of 5 stars Time Better Spent Alone
I've never much cared for Altman, and this film displays his fashionably nihilistic, aimlessly sappy meanderings at their worst. Read more
Published 17 months ago by danopticon

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