It’s a sad commentary that your enjoyment of this movie will be directly proportional to your income level but that is certainly the case here. If you are independently wealthy with not a care in the world (besides your maid requesting health care) this will be an enjoyable movie date. If, like the majority of Americans, you live paycheck to paycheck you truly will wonder how the hell these people have so much free time and can put forth so much effort for what is essentially a nonsense pursuit.
The film is a sweet and sentimental look at the Prairie Home Companion radio show. Garrison Keilor’s NPR program has been a weekend staple for as long as I can remember and I’ve always personally enjoyed the show even if it does become a bit repetitive. The loose story follows the show being shut down, so everything that happens is under the auspice of a “last show.” Members of the giant and Oscar laden cast wander around in various stages of shock about the last show, sometimes bouncing off of Garrison Keilor himself before heading out to the stage to perform what are basically five minute musical interludes.
What goes right in A Prairie Home Companion includes Lilly Tomlin and about half of the music breaks. Tomlin provides much of the laughs in this one as a character who seems firmly based back on planet real world. Lohan doesn’t do a ton here but what she does she does well. Her singing voice is still good in my book, a trait which has long been overlooked in our burgeoning starlet.
What goes wrong is a plot that doesn’t seem at all germane to the movie itself. Well, if they don’t really care about the story why should the audience? Additionally some of the music sessions are snooze worthy. Keilor himself is decent, his baritone voice a soothing presence, but the film itself never goes anywhere which makes enjoying it tougher. Streep is also fairly useless in the picture, unless you are craving annyance in your movie going experience. There is also one strange plot line that involves spoilers but you’ll know it if/when you see it. It was completely pointless.
It’s my firm belief that sound alone can’t win you love, otherwise movies never would have been invented, right? So, as I said before, if you’re driving a fine luxury automobile pack her up and head on down to your local movie hole. If you’d like excitement or hilarity… well you’d best try and pay this month’s bills instead.
