When a corporate media executive arrives to shut down a long-running radio variety show, he feels like he’s been launched back
in time.
Viewers, too, will feel this way while watching “A Prairie Home Companion,” written by Garrison Keillor, based on his public radio show. Keillor’s original program broadcasted from a stage and invited fans to see the theater-style show live.
The fictional movie accounts the last show of a radio program unknowingly bought by a Texas conglomerate. The radio show,
similar to Keillor’s real radio show, is hosted by GK (Keillor). It features acts such as a country duet and singing cowboys during a time when there were fears that radio would lose traditional shows, becoming computers that only play music or feature people yelling back and forth at each other.
Although “A Prairie Home Companion” presents the challenge of depicting radio through a different medium, the movie succeeds at being entertaining thanks to its hilarious scenes and quirky characters. It’s like watching radio’s version of Saturday Night Live.
The movie is defined by Keillor’s writing, which, as usual, is self-
mocking and amusing. His writing also puts Minnesota, his home state, in the spotlight. The show takes place in the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minn. It’s refreshing to see a place besides Hollywood featured in a movie, especially Minnesota, because like Oregon it lacks a reputation.
Keillor wrote in FLM Magazine: “When people ask you where you’re from and you say, ‘Minnesota,’ they say, ‘Oh,’ and there is a pause while they search the hard drive for Minnesota-related items, and then they say, ‘It gets cold there, doesn’t it?’”
His only regret was that more scenes didn’t take place outside.
Despite a lack of diverse settings, viewers will find that eccentric
characters keep the movie rolling. Guy Noir (Kevin Kline), a private detective turned theater security guard, incites the most laughter throughout the movie. The overdramatic security guard trips over coat hangers and takes himself too seriously.
He tells a visibly pregnant co-worker that she should cut down on food and sex.
The movie’s star-studded cast, which includes Woody Harrelson, Lindsay Lohan, Meryl Streep and Maya Rudolph, mixes an unlikely group of actors.
Characters interact with each other in a casual manner, bringing up bizarre, meaningless performance stories.
The movie’s downfall is that it introduces plot lines that are irrelevant to the movie. A past love relationship between GK and Yolanda (Streep) is hinted at but never resolved. The most bothersome aspect of the movie is the use of an angel (Virginia Madsen) who visits the radio show and blames the show for her death. (She skidded off the road after being dumbfound at why she laughed at one of GK’s jokes.)
The use of the angel is never explained or justified. It seems as though the scene was included just to feature another well-known actor and to throw in a character at the last minute. Viewers will be scratching their heads on that one. The movie would be much-improved if Madsen’s role was cut.
Overall, the movie is a feel-good, entertaining riot with an impressive cast. “A Prairie Home Companion” opens June 9.
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‘A Prairie Home Companion’ becomes a radio show for the eyes
Daily Emerald
June 7, 2006
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