A Prairie Home Companion

A Prairie Home Companion was... an interesting little movie. It was Robert Altman's last and it's his usual blend of intriguing stars in an ensemble piece. If you're a radio listener, particularly one who has ever heard the real radio version that this movie is based on, then you might get a little more delight out of it. I'm not sure I'd recommend it with any fervent emotion behind it, really, but I wouldn't actively try to dissuade someone from seeing it, either.
The movie focuses on the last night of a variety radio show that has been on the air for about thirty years, broadcasting from the Fitzgerald theater where a live audience watches the various acts perform. Naturally, our attention is focused on the stage and we pretty much never see the live audience -- we're far more concerned with the backstage action and what could be picked up by the microphones. The story is introduced by a detective who has to work as a security guard (since there's a shortage of grizzly murders or mysterious disappearances in St. Paul), played by Kevin Kline, whose selective attention to details is mildly amusing. Among the big names you'll see are Garrison Keillor (surprise, surprise, he plays the host, GK), Meryl Streep & Lily Tomlin (the singing Johnson Girls, the last of a larger group of singing sisters), Lindsay Lohan (Meryl's morbid daughter), and Woody Harrelson & John C. Reilly (Dusty & Lefty, cowboys who sing somewhat racier songs and tell more off-color jokes than the stage manager would like).
There were some lovely little moments, particularly those that included Virginia Madsen as a woman in a white trench coat who turns out to be an angel that has come for one of the cast members.
It's amusing, but it didn't particularly hit me as wonderful or amazing. I enjoyed it, though, so if you'd like a quiet film with a few lovely moments (and you can forgive some other less perfect parts), then Netflix it, but don't feel obliged to send it to the top of your list.