A Prairie Home Companion

A radio variety show that has run for thirty years goes on air for the last time. The new owner is selling the theatre, the broadcast ends tonight, and the cast keeps joking, singing and needling each other backstage in full knowledge of it. The whole film takes place behind that final show. It was Robert Altman's last film and its subject is exactly that: working while knowing the thing is finished. Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, Kevin Kline and the show's creator Garrison Keillor fill the ensemble. The scenes where Streep and Tomlin talk over each other without pause are the final demonstration of Altman's overlapping sound. The production proves the theme. Because of Altman's age and health, no insurer would cover the shoot without a backup director, so Paul Thomas Anderson was hired to stand by on set, ready to take over. There is almost no plot, and for some viewers that reads as shapelessness. Who it is for: lovers of Altman's ensemble films. Who it is not for: anyone who wants a story to follow.