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100What a lovely film this is, so gentle and whimsical, so simple and profound.
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100A down-home-exquisite musical dramedy.
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90Not 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.
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90The songs in the film are a blast and John C. Reilly and Woody Harrelson share one of the funniest singing moments onscreen ever.
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Sometimes you forget how great an actor is, then he or she is reborn in an Altman movie.
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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.
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90It's not a perfect movie, and it does not aspire to be a great one. It's just wonderful.
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90Rib-ticklingly funny at times and genial as all get-out.
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90Both 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.
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89At the age of 81, Altman may show signs of mellowing, but he again emerges as a master filmmaker.
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88Take a swig of this moonshine. There's magic in it.
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88As 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.
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88A meditation on death that has you humming to the melody and laughing at the joke -- it's an elegiac picture that refuses to eulogize.
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83What sustains the film is the performers' belief in their shaggy-dog selves, which is more than just talent - it's faith.
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83Streep 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.
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83Altman and Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion is fittingly both a celebration and a winning example of the joys of collaboration.
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80For 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.
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80With a theatrical setting, a large ensemble cast, and musical numbers, Altman and his crew are in their own tailored version of heaven.
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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.
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75It's a breezy, homespun, relaxing thing...watching this laid-back picture feels, oddly enough, like a vacation from movies.
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75People 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.
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75Kline'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.
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75As 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.
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70It'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.
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70A 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.
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70Good-humored and enormously entertaining but also sentimental and a little dishonest.
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63I'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.
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63Overall, the film falls into some comforting cocoon midway between affectionate spoof and adoring homage, much like Keillor's warmly nostalgic show.
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63This 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.
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63It's a pleasant but insubstantial excuse for a film.
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60Not one of Altman's masterpieces, but aficionados will find pleasures in a bittersweet swansong from the grand old man.
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60A 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.
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A beautiful angel of death (Virginia Madsen) meanders through the final broadcast, gracing beatitudes over the backstage romances and egg-salad sandwiches.
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50At best, mildly entertaining.
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50At its best, it's a gentle meditation on mortality. But at weaker moments it feels meandering and strangely empty.
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50The result is at once familiar and disconcerting, meta-Keillor done in Altman's desultory, distracted style.
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50Only 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.
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25This is not one of the good Altmans. This isn't even one of the mediocre Altmans.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 29 out of 55
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Mixed: 6 out of 55
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Negative: 20 out of 55
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JonJ.10
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JennyS.10
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RobertM.10Absolutely brilliant !!! I enjoyed every second.