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82
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57
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65
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37
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93
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64
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36
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54
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93
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82
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79
Iron Man
78
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
76
Shine a Light
73
Kung Fu Panda
71
Horton Hears a Who!
69
Redbelt
67
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
64
Wanted
62
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The
61
Stop Loss
61
Incredible Hulk, The
58
Mist, The
57
Forbidden Kingdom, The
57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
57
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
55
Street Kings
55
Nim's Island
55
Baby Mama
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
54
Get Smart
53
Sex and the City: The Movie
52
Mamma Mia!
49
Hancock
48
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
47
Strangers, The
44
Ruins, The
43
Meet Dave
41
Drillbit Taylor
37
Made of Honor
37
Shutter
37
Speed Racer
36
College Road Trip
36
What Happens in Vegas...
35
Jumper
35
Space Chimps
34
Happening, The
34
10,000 B.C.
33
Superhero Movie
31
Deception
24
Love Guru, The
22
Postal
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

83
Alexandra
39
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80
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76
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79
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47
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80
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60
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55
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61
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70
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49
Children of Huang Shi, The
83
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82
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78
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75
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48
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54
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47
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64
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73
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85
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27
Eight Miles High
54
Elsa & Fred
81
Encounters at the End of the World
62
Expired
64
Fall, The
54
Felon
51
Finding Amanda
57
Flawless
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
63
Foot Fist Way, The
60
Fugitive Pieces
72
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45
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31
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55
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69
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73
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59
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10
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68
Heartbeat Detector
36
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68
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55
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66
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58
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66
Kabluey
62
Kiss the Bride
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
80
Last Mistress, The
38
Life Before Her Eyes, The
74
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70
Love Songs
67
Mad Detective
xx
Man Named Pearl, A
64
Married Life
30
Meet Bill
33
Miss Conception
53
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74
Mongol
52
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52
My Blueberry Nights
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
85
My Winnipeg
61
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69
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61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
70
Outsourced
83
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72
Priceless
51
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55
Quid Pro Quo
29
Red Roses and Petrol
79
Reprise
71
Roman de gare
77
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
56
Sangre de mi sangre
51
Savage Grace
76
Shotgun Stories
66
Son of Rambow
70
Standard Operating Procedure
57
Stone Angel, The
61
Stuck
72
Surfwise
25
Take
81
Tell No One
56
Then She Found Me
xx
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic
71
To the Limit
54
Tracey Fragments, The
69
Transsiberian
71
Trumbo
71
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83
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56
Unknown Woman
86
Up the Yangtze
59
Very British Gangster, A
79
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61
Wackness, The
37
War, Inc.
65
Water Lilies
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
55
Without the King
72
Woman on the Beach
64
XXY
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75
Young@Heart
86
Up the Yangtze
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
85
Edge of Heaven, The
85
My Winnipeg
83
Chop Shop
83
Paranoid Park
83
Alexandra
83
U2 3D
82
Chris & Don. A Love Story
81
Tell No One
81
Encounters at the End of the World
80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
80
Band's Visit, The
80
Last Mistress, The
79
Reprise
79
Visitor, The
79
Before I Forget
78
Counterfeiters, The
77
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
76
Shotgun Stories
76
Beauty in Trouble
75
Young@Heart
75
Days and Clouds
74
Mongol
74
Lou Reed's Berlin
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
73
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
72
Woman on the Beach
72
Full Battle Rattle
72
Priceless
72
Surfwise
71
Tuya's Marriage
71
Trumbo
71
To the Limit
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
71
Roman de gare
70
Standard Operating Procedure
70
Love Songs
70
Outsourced
70
Caramel
69
Transsiberian
69
Operation Filmmaker
69
Go-Getter, The
68
Heartbeat Detector
68
Honeydripper
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
67
Mad Detective
66
Son of Rambow
66
Jellyfish
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
66
Kabluey
65
Water Lilies
64
Married Life
64
Dreams with Sharp Teeth
64
XXY
64
Fall, The
63
Foot Fist Way, The
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
62
Expired
62
Kiss the Bride
61
Brick Lane
61
Stuck
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
61
Wackness, The
61
On the Rumba River
60
Fugitive Pieces
60
Blind Mountain
59
Gunnin for that #1 Spot
59
Very British Gangster, A
58
Jihad for Love, A
57
Flawless
57
Stone Angel, The
56
Unknown Woman
56
Then She Found Me
56
Sangre de mi sangre
55
Quid Pro Quo
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
55
Irina Palm
55
Bra Boys
55
Without the King
54
Diminished Capacity
54
Felon
54
Tracey Fragments, The
54
Elsa & Fred
53
Mister Lonely
52
Mother of Tears, The
52
My Blueberry Nights
51
Finding Amanda
51
Promotion, The
51
Savage Grace
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
48
Death Defying Acts
47
Doorman, The
47
Bella
45
Full Grown Men
39
August
38
Life Before Her Eyes, The
37
War, Inc.
36
Holding Trevor
33
Miss Conception
31
Garden Party
30
Meet Bill
29
Red Roses and Petrol
27
Eight Miles High
25
Take
10
Harold
xx
Man Named Pearl, A
xx
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Prairie Home Companion, A
Picturehouse
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for risque humor
Starring
Woody Harrelson,
Tommy Lee Jones,
Garrison Keillor,
Kevin Kline,
Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen,,
John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph,
Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Marylouise Burke,
and
L.Q. Jones
Director Robert Altman and writer Garrison Keillor join forces with an all-star cast to create a comic backstage fable, A Prairie Home Companion, about a fictitious radio variety show that has managed to survive in the age of television. (Picturehouse)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
Musical
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Garrison Keillor (also radio program A Prairie Home Companion)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Robert Altman
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: October 10, 2006
Theatrical: June 9, 2006
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
105 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
Nominated, Golden Berlin Bear, 2006 Berlin International Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
What a lovely film this is, so gentle and whimsical, so simple and profound.

100
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
A down-home-exquisite musical dramedy.

90
Film Threat
Don R. Lewis
The songs in the film are a blast and John C. Reilly and Woody Harrelson share one of the funniest singing moments onscreen ever.

90
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Both magical and consistently joyous. The director, Robert Altman, and the writer, Garrison Keillor, have, against all odds, transmuted the fatigued public radio institution into a lovely fable about mortality, fleeting fame, fondness for the past and the ineffable beauty of life in the present.
90
The Hollywood Reporter
Kirk Honeycutt
Not since Woody Allen's "Radio Days" has anyone created such a cinematic Valentine to the wonderfully imaginative medium of radio as A Prairie Home Companion.

90
Variety
Todd McCarthy
Rib-ticklingly funny at times and genial as all get-out.

90
New York Magazine
David Edelstein
Sometimes you forget how great an actor is, then he or she is reborn in an Altman movie.

90
Village Voice
Rob Nelson
Keillor's modest subservience to Altman's group dynamic feels downright gallant, and in the context of the veteran director's most humanistic movie by a wide margin, it certainly has its rewards.

90
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
It's not a perfect movie, and it does not aspire to be a great one. It's just wonderful.

89
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
At the age of 81, Altman may show signs of mellowing, but he again emerges as a master filmmaker.

88
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Take a swig of this moonshine. There's magic in it.

88
Premiere
Glenn Kenny
As for this film's esteemed director, I don't remember getting such sheer pleasure out of an Altman movie since . . . hmm, lemme look at the filmo . . . hmm—"The Player"? Not so much . . . "O.C. and Stiggs"? I wish . . . Um, "Popeye"? More likely, but . . . Ah-"A Wedding." Yeah, that’s it, "A Wedding." Whoa. That was, like, almost 30 years ago.

88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
A meditation on death that has you humming to the melody and laughing at the joke -- it's an elegiac picture that refuses to eulogize.

83
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
Altman and Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion is fittingly both a celebration and a winning example of the joys of collaboration.

83
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
Streep and Tomlin are so attuned to each other that it's as if they had worked together all of their lives. In fact, it's their first time. Streep has become a wonderfully soulful comedian; Tomlin always was one.

83
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
What sustains the film is the performers' belief in their shaggy-dog selves, which is more than just talent - it's faith.

80
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
For a film about death and endings, A Prairie Home Companion is a cracking good time - a warm, golden bauble within which to shelter, like the radio show that inspired it, from the misery and ennui that engulf us in and out of the multiplex.

80
Slate
Michael Agger
With a theatrical setting, a large ensemble cast, and musical numbers, Altman and his crew are in their own tailored version of heaven.

75
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
Kline's combination of pratfalls and urbanity is funny, but it rubs against the rest of the movie's effortless rustic charm. He's like Errol Flynn on a hayride.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
It's a breezy, homespun, relaxing thing...watching this laid-back picture feels, oddly enough, like a vacation from movies.

75
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
People unfamiliar with either man may think Altman is mocking Keillor and his 32-year-old radio program here. But, it is pure affection, and the movie is as much up-tempo, irresistible fun to watch as the show is to hear.

75
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
Like his recent, elegant dance film "The Company," A Prairie Home Companion will appeal especially to those who are not story-dependent. Altman's sidewinding tribute to a surprisingly hardy 32-year-old public radio phenomenon is like a 105-minute putter in the garden, with a few songs and some jokes.

75
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
As it stands, it entertains quite a bit, frustrates too much, and leaves you feeling slightly undernourished, like a meal of tasty but not filling hors d'oeuvres.

70
The New Yorker
David Denby
A Prairie Home Companion has many lovely and funny moments, but there's not a lot going on. Dramatically, it's mellow to the point of inertia. There may not be any sweat, but there isn't any heat, either.

70
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
Good-humored and enormously entertaining but also sentimental and a little dishonest.

70
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
It's by no means the greatest Altman, and not even a great Altman. And yet, even though it was written and conceived by Garrison Keillor -- as a fanciful fiction that draws on elements of his popular radio show -- it is somehow pure Altman.

63
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Overall, the film falls into some comforting cocoon midway between affectionate spoof and adoring homage, much like Keillor's warmly nostalgic show.

63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
I'm not sure that the endearing charms of the assorted fogeys and whelps add up to a movie. But I always enjoy how Altman weaves the warp of professional life with the weft of the personal.

63
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
It's a pleasant but insubstantial excuse for a film.

63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
This combination of storytelling, singing, and corny comedy is sometimes a little too slow and long-winded for its own good, but at least the aftertaste isn't bitter.

60
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
A Prairie Home Companion tries to embrace the spirit of that longtime radio series but suffocates the very qualities that make the original show so special in the first place.

60
Empire
Angie Errigo
Not one of Altman’s masterpieces, but aficionados will find pleasures in a bittersweet swansong from the grand old man.

58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Gianni Truzzi
A beautiful angel of death (Virginia Madsen) meanders through the final broadcast, gracing beatitudes over the backstage romances and egg-salad sandwiches.

50
USA Today
Claudia Puig
At its best, it's a gentle meditation on mortality. But at weaker moments it feels meandering and strangely empty.

50
Los Angeles Times
Carina Chocano
The result is at once familiar and disconcerting, meta-Keillor done in Altman's desultory, distracted style.

50
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
At best, mildly entertaining.

50
The New Republic
Stanley Kauffmann
Only the onstage performing has moments of lift, particularly Keillor's diabolically homespun monologues and the cowboys with their risqué jokes that are reminders of such outhouse reading as Captain Billy's Whiz Bang.

25
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
This is not one of the good Altmans. This isn't even one of the mediocre Altmans.


The average user rating for this movie is 6.1 (out of 10) based on 87 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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