Tuesday, December 23, 2008



Four Stars. Loved it, loved it. I wish I knew how to make the image bigger. ( a little help, Em?) This is a movie called "A Prairie Home Companion". It is based on a radio show I am devoted to. It's like an old-time radio variety show like the kind they did 50+ years ago. It's hosted (for 30 years, I think?) by this guy named Garrison Keillor. He has just the best voice for radio ever. Every week they do this show before a live audience. Mostly from their studio in St. Paul, but they do hit the road and travel to various venues. They've come to Salt Lake a few times, but I have never gone to see it live. The movie is about the show's very last performance. Only some of the players know this. And there is like this death figure on the prowl. And that's pretty much it. It is very Robert Altman-ish (he directed the film, but died before it was released). But I think I had a ginormous grin on my face throughout the entire thing. Kevin Kline is hilarious as Guy Noir (a hapless Private Investigator). Dusty and Lefty (from this cowboy bit they do on the show that is hilarious) are played by Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly, repectively and are just so funny I had tears down my face during their bit, it was so funny. Lily Tomlin (Altman is to Lily Tomlin as Allen is to Dianne Keaton) and Meryl Streep were wonderful (especially hearing their attempts to do Mid-western accents!) I so wish I was from Minnesota. As far as continental US accents go, that is my favorite. A close second is metro-Boston. A former employee at Motion Control and good friend of mine nick-named me wicked smaht. Love it. Anyhoo, I don't know if you have to be a fan of the show to enjoy the movie, or if you might just take a chance on watching it and join me in what Booker calls "The Grandma Hour". This is the block of time I reserve to listening to my favorite radio shows.

5 comments:

Emily said...

Done and done. All you do is look it up on Amazon and click - see larger image, and copy that one.

I'll think about watching this. While I am not into your MPR-ness, I do subscribe to the "This American Life" and listen to and enjoy it sometimes.

Sue said...

MPR-ness, hee hee. Well I'm glad one of us finally watched the movie. I'm glad it is so good. I didn't know Kevin Kline was Guy Noir I need to see this. I listen to the show a lot. And I especially love Robert Altman films.

Cat said...

Excellent, Em. This American Life is my favorite radio program by far. I rarely have the time to devote to the entire program of "A Prairie Home Companion". I think it's like a 4 hour show. But to me TAL is a for sure a do not miss. I am completely obsessed with Ira Glass.

Pops said...

Love the Wicked Smaht name. B got Wicked the musical cd for Christmas, she saw the play in LA and loved it etc. etc. If I have never heard the radio shows you are talking about, would I enjoy the movie? I like all the actors mentioned.

Sue said...

I think you should give it a try dad. Prairie Home Companion is a fun old-timey radio show and it stars Garrison Keillor. Are you familiar with him? He has written some books and he has editorials in the newspaper once in a while.

And if you need another reason to watch it, watch it because Robert Altman directed it. I love his movies. It was after seeing a couple of Altman movies and Woody Allen movies that I decided I liked directors more than actors. Altman directed Mash, The Player, Gosford Park, Short Cuts and a lot of other great films.

So I recommend you watch it, even though I haven't yet, hee hee. I bumped it to the top of my netflix que.