.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

Do you remember that Sesame Street song, "One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong…." Well, that is the song I was singing in my head while typing the review for the new Robert Altman film, A Prairie Home Companion.

Squeezed into a release date amongst the summer stock normally reserved for big blow-up blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean, Mission Impossible III and Poseidon, A Prairie Home Companion stuck out like a proverbial sore thumb.

Anyone who knows a thing or two about Altman films would know exactly what I am talking about. His films always contain a credit list of characters longer than most film shorts and his knack for overlapping dialogue by multiple characters is almost his to patent. So what is a film driven by characters and heavy dialogue doing amid a summer of Wolverine's and Supermans?

Maybe the studio thought it would be a good diversion from the rest of the holiday fare. Maybe the execs thought young Lindsay Lohan friends would still flock no matter what the film. Or maybe, and more likely, the distributor just didn't know what to do with the film and threw it against the wall to see if it stuck.

Whatever the reason, A Prairie Home Companion was a nice distraction this summer and is a relatively good timewaster full of wonderful performances and trademark Altmanisms.

The film surrounds the closing of a live radio show and all the backstage fun that surrounds the performances. Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep as the Johnson sisters probably have the most of the fairly evened screen time as they reminisce, remember and record their final songs before the live packed theatre. Also along for final performances are Lindsay Lohan as Streep's daughter who seems to be going through her rebellious stage filled with anger, hate and thoughts that surround suicide and Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly as scene stealing Dusty and Lefty (their Bad Jokes routine was the funniest sustainable five minute scene this year in the movies). These characters and more are all wrapped nicely around Garrison Keillor who acts as host and emcee of the evening and Kevin Kline who reminded me of a sustained Peter Sellers as he acts as a bumbling suit in charge of security at the theatre.

These characters talk, sing and joke the night away as a mysterious woman in a white trenchcoat (Virginia Madsen) parades around as an angel who's presence throws a fantasy element into a film that doesn't quite fit, but then again, I can't imagine much of a film without it.

Whether you like or hate A Prairie Home Companion will depend on your appreciation for the country twang that is constant throughout the film and your tolerance for paying an admission ticket to hear commercials as orated by emcee Garrison for two hours.

I personally sat in the middle and appreciated the rich performances that you come to expect in an Altman film. To be sure, this is no Short Cuts. Nor is it a Gosford Park. But it isn't a Dr. T and the Women, and sitting between these two extremes ain't so bad.