A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

Premise: The last performance of an old fashioned radio variety show, hosted by GK (Garrison Keillor) and populated by such characters as 30s-style detective Guy Noir (Kevin Kline); singing sisters Rhonda (Lily Tomlin) and Yolanda (Meryl Streep), and Yolanda's suicidally minded daughter, Lola (Lindsay Lohan); and cowboy duo Dusty (Woody Harrelson) and Lefty (John C. Reilly). All are awaiting the appearance of the Axeman (Tommy Lee Jones), while Guy pursues the femme fatale (Virginia Madsen) he's been waiting for all these years.

Let it be known that I have never once listened to screenwriter Garrison Keillor's radio show. I hear good things, but, well, I wouldn't even know how to find it here. So, there's that.

But Robert Altman doing what only Robert Altman can? Being perfectly in his element? That's what film-making's about.

Metaphors for Keillor's voice and Altman's style abound, and I am wary of throwing my hat in for either. I will say that Altman excels in creating a feeling of camaraderie, of familiarity, of warmth, of kindness, and of family between everyone that crosses the screen from the bit players to once-rising starlets* to the Greatest Living Actress.**

*Now it's more like the star accidentally hit something and has veered tragically off course. Don't you realize that I wanted to like you?

**of Her Generation. The necessity of the caveat depends on who you ask.

To call the plot secondary to the characters is being generous (at least in this case), but it doesn't really matter when it looks like this much fun. Barely anything "happens," and Altman, through his tremendous cast, can move the viewer from hysterical laughter to tears in a split-second. Everyone seems so natural that even the occasional jar is quickly forgotten, replaced almost instantly by another beautiful memory. A-

P.S. At least one woman in the audience thought she should sing along. Hard to resist joining her. Must get soundtrack.