dinky26

I just recently saw A Prarie Home Companion this weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The atmosphere and feeling of the radio show is deftly recreated on screen. However, I do wonder how accessible this is. People who live in the midwest certainly get it, people who don't live in the midwest, but listen to the show get it, but what about those who don't listen to the show or live in the midwest. Will they get it? I don't know if I would. The audience that I was watching it with laughed the most at lines like "we come from people who know it could be worse, and expect it will be." It was very funny to us, but I know it's very regional. I would think that if I lived overseas I might be scratching my head at the end saying "what was that all about?" Answer: it's a love letter to a real radio show that a lot of people hold in great esteem and affection.

I loved the movie. This is a typical coming-of-age story, but it's played out so realistically that it sometimes feels like a documentary. I recognized everyone in the film, and their family relationships. I felt like I was sitting in my grandmother's own lower east side apartment watching my cousin bicker with his little sister while his little brother hero worshipped him. Victor struck me as a "trash talking" kind of guy. He talks a good game, but we never actually see him in "action" (his attempts to seduce Fat Donna are thwarted by his sister and his best friend). Which led me to believe that we're meant to understand that Victor, despite all the big talk, has had very little, if any, experience.

What I loved was how everything rang true. From the reactions of Grandma, to the sibling arguments, the budding romance between Victor and Judy's respective best friends, Nothing hit a false note...EXCEPT

I would agree with another reviewer who said it surprised him to see that the three children would sleep in the same room with such a conservative grandmother. In my family Vicki would have slept in the same room as Grandma. However, that's my family, and it was never established if the apartment was a one or two bedroom. If it's one bedroom, than Grandma was probably out in the living room, and it would make sense to have the kids in one room (of course, the fact that it stood out enough to cause such reasoning is evidence that something was off about it. Again, based purely on my experience. I cannot speak for other Latinos.)