Acclaimed filmmaker Robert Altman ("Short Cuts," "Nashville") brings
National Public Radio stalwart Garrison Keillor's long-running radio program to
vivid life on the big screen in a intricately woven backstage fable centering on
the final performance of a fictionalized version of his variety show. As if the
result of some strange mass-media fluke, the popular radio program A Prairie
Home Companion somehow managed to survive the television age to entertain
its audience every Saturday night from the stage of the historic Fitzgerald
Theater in St. Paul, MN. Week after week, hangdog host Garrison Keillor serves
as unflappable emcee to an amiable hodgepodge of radio-friendly acts that
include the likes of popular country duo Yolanda and Rhonda Johnson (Meryl
Streep and Lily Tomlin) and singing cowboys the Old Trailhands (Woody Harrelson
and John C. Reilly). This is one show where the under-the-line antics are nearly
as entertaining as the program itself, though, and in between the efforts of
down-on-his-luck private dick and backstage doorkeeper Guy Noir (Kevin Kline) to
discover the true identity of a mysterious blonde (Virginia Madsen) and aspiring
teen singer Lola (Lindsay Lohan) to find her true voice before a live audience,
there's still plenty of fun and mystery to be had at the old Fitzgerald before
the final curtain falls on A Prairie Home Companion. ~ Jason Buchanan,
All Movie Guide
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