[Screen Scenes] “A Prairie Home Companion” ““ Directed by Robert Altman
By Alfred Lee
June 6, 2006 9:00 p.m.
The setup of “A Prairie Home Companion” is classic
Robert Altman, who’s long been a master of juggling multiple
character arcs and story lines (“Nashville,”
“Short Cuts”). It begins in Minnesota, as a radio show
of the same name is about to be aired. Not surprisingly,
there’s no shortage of colorful characters milling about,
from a security man straight out of a noir film (Kevin Kline) to
sister country singers who talk over each other (Meryl Streep and
Lily Tomlin).
The intrigue with this particular night is that it might be the
program’s last, as it has just been bought out by a Texas
conglomerate.
Yet, the wheels come off somewhere in the second half. The fun
of getting to know the characters fades as their lack of depth
becomes obvious, and the relationships between them are never
really explored beyond a surface level.
The screenplay sets up conflicts ““ one character losing
the words to her song, and another character dying”“ that have
no real ramifications and exist almost solely for their own
resolution. The final act unnecessarily ties everything up in a
nice bow for the sake of closure.
“A Prairie Home Companion” is entertaining enough,
but doesn’t go beyond its basic premise. This would be fine,
if it weren’t also a Robert Altman movie.
