In Saint Paul, Minnesota, the long-running live radio variety show A Prairie Home Companion prepares for what the listening audience does not know is its final broadcast. The radio station's new parent company has scheduled the show's home, the storied Fitzgerald Theater, for demolition, and dispatched "the Axeman" to judge whether to save the show.
The show is visited by an otherworldly "Dangerous Woman" (Virginia Madsen) in a white trench coat revealed to be Lois Peterson, a listener who died in a car accident while listening to a past broadcast, now returned as the angel Asphodel; she lends comfort to the cast and crew for the show's ending and the death of the elderly Chuck Akers (L. Q. Jones) backstage.
The Axeman (Tommy Lee Jones) arrives and swiftly declares the show too old-fashioned to keep on the air. Asphodel escorts him from the theater to an untimely demise, but the show is still canceled.
Years later, the former cast reunites at Mickey's Diner with plans for a farewell tour. Their lively conversation pauses as Asphodel enters the diner.
To receive insurance for the shoot, Robert Altman had to hire Paul Thomas Anderson as a standby director to observe filming at all times and be prepared to take over for Altman in case of his incapacity.[3]
The film grossed $20,338,609 domestically (in a limited release) and $25,978,442 worldwide.
Critical response
A Prairie Home Companion opened the 2006 South by Southwest film festival on March 10, then premiered on May 3, 2006, at the Fitzgerald Theater, which had projection and sound equipment brought in for the purpose. The film's stars arrived in ten horse-drawn carriages. Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News anchored his newscast from neighboring Minneapolis, Minnesota, that night so that he would be able to attend.
Critics' general reaction to the film was favorable. On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 82% based on 197 reviews, with an average rating of 7.12/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "The final film by the great Robert Altman, A Prairie Home Companion, the big screen adaptation of Garrison Keillor's radio broadcast showcases plenty of the director's strengths: it's got a gigantic cast and plenty of quirky acting and dialogue."[8]Roger Ebert awarded the film four out of four stars, saying, "What a lovely film this is, so gentle and whimsical, so simple and profound",[9] and later added the film to his "Great Movies" list.[10]
Michael Medved (himself a radio host) gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying, "The entertainment value stands somewhere between thin and nonexistent" and "[it may be] the worst movie ever made that pooled the talents of four (count ‘em – four!) Oscar winners".[11]
Desson Thomson from The Washington Post fell in between, writing in a review headlined "Honey, You Could Ask for More" (a reference to the radio show's theme song) that while the movie had its strengths, it was weaker than it should have been.[12]
The DVD was released on October 10, 2006. Special features included deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes documentary, and commentary by Altman and Kline. The manufacture-on-demand Blu-ray was released by Warner Archive Collection on September 24, 2024.
