DVDS `PRAIRIE' A QUIRKY COMPANION FOR A NIGHT AT HOME.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

Robert Altman's ``A Prairie Home Companion'' opens with a shot of an old-time diner, something that might remind you of Edward Hopper's famed painting. That might make you think that the film -- as some have noted -- is a nostalgic love letter to a bygone era.

``PHC'' is that, to some degree, but true to his style, Altman is more interested in what's going on around the edges of the action. The story is never the whole story in his films.

From that diner emerges Guy Noir (Kevin Kline), the narrator of the tale and a character in the real radio show ``A Prairie Home Companion.'' Here he's a private eye who provides security for the show, which is facing its last night. The Axeman (Tommy Lee Jones) is coming from a large conglomerate to close it down.

As an oddball collection of performers and crew put the show on, Altman seamlessly moves from the stage to the behind-the-scenes action.

Really, he seems to be saying, it's all the same thing, and his camera is almost always in motion, giving you a sense of the action and confusion of the scene.

Throughout the evening, acts try to deal with the imminent death of the show. There's Garrison Keillor himself, the man behind the real ``PHC,'' but here his character is anxious to move on and has no interest in reminiscing, although everyone wants him to recount how he started in radio, a tale that's never the same twice. More interested in recounting the old days are the singing Johnson Sisters -- Yolanda (Meryl Streep) and Rhonda (Lily Tomlin) -- who peel back layers of their past in their stories, many of them told to Yolanda's sullen daughter, Lola (Lindsay Lohan), who writes poems about suicide.

Hovering around the edge of the show is a mysterious woman in a white trench coat (Virginia Madsen) who has caught Guy's eye. She's an angel, there to guide someone to the next dimension. The angel had been mortal once, but laughing at one of Keillor's jokes while driving resulted in the crash that killed her. In retrospect, she wonders why she thought the joke was funny.

That's the way life goes sometimes, and that's why ``PHC'' is such a joy. You laugh at some of the dumbest stuff -- including some risqu(hrt) jokes by the singing-cowboy duo of Dusty (Woody Harrelson) and Lefty (John C. Reilly). But that's Altman's strength -- mixing life and death and laughter and giving us a rich tapestry, like ``PHC.''

What's so funny?

For the most part, I don't get Adam Sandler. He's a modestly funny guy, but not that funny. His inane comedies are insufferable for anyone with more than a 12-year-old's sensibility. His attempts at more adult fare are partially successful, but a lot of decent comedic actors could do as well or better.

His latest, ``Click,'' is neither -- a middle road that goes nowhere.

Sandler plays Michael Newman, an architect with an attractive wife, Donna (Kate Beckinsale), and two cute kids, Ben and Samantha. Pressure from his boss (David Hasselhoff) leaves him no time for his family, but during a visit to a Bed, Bath and Beyond (``Beyond'' the operative word) he meets a sales clerk, Morty (Christopher Walken), who supplies him with a remote control that allows him to control time. Now Michael can slow down things to watch breasts jiggle, or turn down the sound when his wife is complaining. He can rewind to his youth, or fast-forward to his future. If ``Click'' had greater ambitions -- like the metaphysical ``Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'' -- it doesn't come through in the film. Instead, we get a one-joke premise that soon grows tiresome.

Television

The 11-episode adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel ``Brideshead Revisited'' in 1981 remains a high point in intelligent television.

Jeremy Irons plays Charles Ryder, the main character and narrator, who -- while an officer in the British army during World War II -- is assigned to an English manor, in which he had spent much time some 20 years before.

The estate was once owned by the Flyte family. Charles had been befriended by Sebastian Flyte (Anthony Andrews) during his years at Oxford and soon fell for Sebastian's sister Julia (Diana Quick).

But the Flytes are Catholic, and in those days, the gap between them and the agnostic Charles was an abyss. And even if members of the clan acted in an amoral fashion -- affairs were rather the norm -- the question of sin and ever-

presence of the ``one true church'' weighed heavily on them.

John Mortimer (``Rumpole of the Bailey'') beautifully adapted the book, and Charles Sturridge (the recent ``Lassie'') directed most of the episodes.

Along with the Oscar-winning Irons was a stellar cast -- Andrews, Quick, Laurence Olivier, Claire Bloom, John Gielgud and Simon Jones.

The new ``25th Anniversary Collector's Edition'' DVD of the miniseries includes a new 50-minute retrospective documentary, ``Revisiting Brideshead''; commentaries from the film's cast and producers; a photo gallery; and a 20-page companion guide.

If you're prepping for Sofia Coppola's new film, there's PBS' ``Marie-Antoinette,'' which recently aired. Coppola's work is artistic speculation. The TV documentary is more grounded, providing an interesting, historic portrait of the queen who lost her head.

Rob Lowman [phone]

robert.lowman(at)dailynews.com

NEW FILMS

``A Prairie Home Companion'' (New Line; $29.98)

``Click'' (Columbia; $29.95)

``Garfield -- A Tail of Two Kitties'' (Fox; $29.99)

``Art School Confidential'' (Columbia; $26.96)

``The King'' (Velocity / Thinkfilm; $27.98)

OLDER FILMS

``Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection'' (``Doctor X,'' ``The Return of Doctor X,'' ``Mad Love,'' ``The Devil Doll,'' ``Mark of the Vampire,'' ``The Mask of Fu Manchu'') (Warner; $39.98)

``Motion Picture Masterpieces Collection'' (``David Copperfield -- 1935,'' ``Marie Antoinette -- 1938,'' ``Pride and Prejudice -- 1940,'' ``A Tale of Two Cities -- 1935,'' ``Treasure Island -- 1934 and 1938'') (Warner; $49.98)

``Black Rain -- Special Collector's Edition'' (Paramount: $14.99)

TELEVISION

``Brideshead Revisited -- 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition'' (Acorn; $59.99)

``Scrubs -- The Complete Fourth Season'' (Touchstone; $39.99)

``Numb3rs -- The Complete Second Season'' (Paramount; $54.95)

``Simon & Simon -- Season One'' (Universal; $39.98)

``Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Vol. 2'' (Turner; $29.98)

``The A-Team: Season Five -- Final Season'' (Universal; $49.98)

``Everybody Hates Chris -- The First Season'' (Paramount; $59.95)

``Marie-Antoinette'' (PBS; $24.99)

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Dusty (Woody Harrelson, left) and Woody (John C. Reilly) are the singing cowboys of ``A Prairie Home Companion,'' a film as offbeat as the radio show on which it is based.