A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION
RYAN: I’m a little sad that I didn’t get to see the following movie with you, because we talked about seeing it.
CAROLINE: We even blogged about seeing it!
RYAN: We were excited about seeing it, but apparently I should be glad I didn’t see it. And that movie is:
CAROLINE: “A Prairie Home Companion.” Let me tell you, I was really excited about seeing this and I’m going to do you a favor and say, “Don’t.”
RYAN: I’m surprised! Because we have some friends who’ve seen it and said that they loved it – but I guess they were fans of the original radio show.
CAROLINE: First of all, we have ONE friend who said he loved it. And second of all, I’m here to say this: the performances are great and the direction is good. But this movie is not a movie. It is essentially a live recording of a radio show.
RYAN: But it’s an entertaining radio show, right? Does it just not translate well into film?
CAROLINE: Define “entertaining.” Because this movie is a bunch of people singing hokey bluegrass songs. However, Lily and Meryl are phenomenal.
RYAN: Are the songs good enough that I might want to get the soundtrack?
CAROLINE: No. Not even a little. And the guy who hosts the radio show, Garrison whatever, is so boring and his voice is so annoying, and I understand that a lot of people like this show and listen to it on NPR, but I am not one of them. And if you are not one of them, I highly recommend that you do not see this film.
RYAN: But are the performances enough that if you’re a big Meryl fan, or a Lily fan, or a Lohan fan, you’d enjoy seeing them in this movie?
CAROLINE: I don’t know. Almost. Look, I’m not regretful that I saw this. I don’t want my money back. But after about 45 minutes, when I realized there was no movie here, I was irritated. I mean, basically, if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen the movie. It’s just them strumming and singing with a couple of cute backstage moments. But Kevin Kline, I gotta give him a shout-out – he’s hilarious! His scenes are great and you look forward to them, but he doesn’t have a huge part. Other than that, it’s just people doing a radio show and it’s not gratifying, especially when you’ve never listened to the stupid show and you hate NPR like some people I know.
RYAN: Is it true that Lindsay Lohan had to put on 35 lbs. for this role?
CAROLINE: No.
RYAN: Oh.
CAROLINE: My point is, if you like boring NPR, this is a great movie for you. If not, skip it.
RYAN: That sounds a lot like a final thought.
CAROLINE: It is. Consider it done.
RYAN: I don’t think I’m going to see this one. Thanks for talking one for the team and saving me some time.
CAROLINE: The pleasure was all mine. It was the least I could do after you suffered through “Poseidon.”