A Prairie Home Companion

Robert Altman's latest treasure is 'œmore likely to inspire fondness than awe,' said A.O. Scott in The New York Times. And that perfectly suits the sensibility of its source, Garrison Keillor's long-running public-radio variety show. A Prairie Home Companion 'œnever set out to make anyone's hair stand on end.' Mostly, it offers reliable helpings of amusement and nostalgia, hearkening back to a time when broadcasting was a local affair sponsored by 'œmom-and-pop purveyors of biscuits and Norwegian pickled herring.' The somewhat diaphanous premise of the film is the imminent demise of the radio show, said Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune. A Texas media conglomerate has bought out the station, and so the cast prepares for and performs its last show with a (literal) angel of death in the wings. Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin amusingly play the singing sisters Yolanda and Rhonda Johnson; Lindsay Lohan skulks about as Yolanda's death-obsessed daughter; and Kevin Kline is a stylish Guy Noir, gumshoe downgraded to security guard. It's 'œunconventional material for a movie,' said Colin Covert in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. But the right directorial hands have crafted it into something special. 'œThose hands belong to Robert Altman,' who mixes in his own 'œtart, pessimistic humor.' He and Keillor have neatly knit together every thread in this fine yarn about coming to terms with aging, endings, and relinquishing the reins to youth.

Rating: PG-13

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