A Prairie Home Companion (previously known as The Last Broadcast) is a 2006 ensemble comedy film elegy directed by Robert Altman, his final film released just five months before his death. It is based on A Prairie Home Companion, a program broadcast on public radio stations in the United States and elsewhere. The film is a fictional representation of behind-the-scenes activities on a long-running radio show of the same name, that has unexpectedly been cancelled.
The movie is a celebrity version of Garrison Keillor's radio show of the same name. The movie takes place during the last live performance of the show as the new radio network owners have sent an axeman (Tommy Lee Jones)to close the show. Another fantasy element is thrown in as an angel (Virginia Madsen) stalks the theater to take one of the performers. Keillor essentially plays himself, even using his own name for the character. Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep play the singing Johnson Sisters, with Lindsay Lohan as a suicide-obsessed daughter of Streep. Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly are hilarious as the slightly off-color singing cowboy duo, Dusty & Lefty. Kevin Kline is a security guard who act as the narrator. Maya Rudolph also appears as a pregnant stage coordinator. Contains some mild sexually-oriented jokes. Written by John Sacksteder
