Digital Dretzka

Garrison Keillor may lack the charisma of a George Clooney or Brad Pitt, but 4 million radio listeners can’t be wrong … or, so hopes Picturehouse president Bob Berney. Exhibitors attending ShoWest didn’t pack screenings of “A Prairie Home Companion” in the same numbers as greeted “Cars,” but those who made the effort were rewarded with the most satisfying Robert Altman picture since “Short Cuts.” Light and breezy, the 90-minute comedy imagines what could happen if a Texas tycoon (Tommy Lee Jones) took over Keillor’s radio home, in order to turn the theater into a parking lot. To mark the sad occasion, “GK” has invited veteran members of his ensemble cast to the Twin Cities for a final hurrah.

Typically, Altman’s cameras bounce repeatedly from the on-stage performances to the shenanigans backstage. Keillor’s regular cast of actors and musicians is joined by a motley chorus that includes Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, L.Q. Jones, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Maya Rudolph and Lindsay Lohan. Kevin Kline channels both Philip Marlowe and Inspector Clouseau in his wacky portrayal of an old-fashioned shamus, Guy Noir, who becomes enchanted with an enigmatic blond stalker (Virginia Madsen). All are wonderful, including tabloid diva Lohan, whose character is the daughter and niece of singing sisters played by Streep and Tomlin.

Comparisons to “Nashville” are as inevitable as they might be welcomed by the distributors. Indeed, “Prairie Home Companion” could easily be considered a tonal sequel to that landmark film. But, all of Altman’s best films resemble each other in one way or another, and it’s difficult to imagine anyone objecting to a revisiting of that classic. Altman, who began his career as a writer of radio shows, uses the picture to remind contemporary audiences of what the medium has meant to several generations of Americans, just as Woody Allen did in “Radio Days” and, to a lesser, George Lucas in “American Graffiti.”

Berney is counting on the “Prairie Home” brand – along with positive word-of-mouth from its core audience – to push attendance for the June release. Let’s see … 4 million listeners, at $8 a ticket …