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Re: "Prairie Home Companion" the

April 14, 2006 |

Re: "Prairie Home Companion" the movie.

Why on earth did you allow the pregnant character to down, in one gulp no less, a glass of champagne? At best, this action makes the cast and crew of PHC look illiterate since no heed was paid to reading the Surgeon General's warning on the bottle. Even aside from the really lousy message this sends re the fact that the health and well-being of another potential human being is being gambled away, I suspect many people in the audience felt the discomfort I did in watching this scene unfold. Most PHC listeners and viewers are probably well-informed and for good reason gave up drinking for nine months while pregnant. Why mar the movie with this needlessly disturbing scene that really doesn't have much point anyway?

Jeannette F.
Brookline, MA

You're right of course. If you're asking why I allowed it, the honest answer is that I didn't. It was an improvised moment, with no screenwriter present, and I didn't see it until months later. I suppose they kept it in because the scene of which it's part is so funny, the telephone joke, Kevin falling over the bar, the firing of the champagne cork.

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