Maybe Garrison Keillor is better heard but not seen. Certainly some of the humor was laugh out loud funny, such as clueless detective Guy Noir mentioning that he had a grilled cheese sandwich with a bean chaser, or the cheerfully tasteless jokes exchanged by Dusty and Lefty. As much as I like Virginia Madsen, I kept wondering if her "Angel of Death" character was inspired by Tony Kushner, "Angels in Minnesota" as it were.

What worked best could be seen in the dressing room of the Johnson Sisters, played by Streep and Lily Tomlin. The surviving pair of a quartet similar to the Carter Family, but as one of the sisters puts it, "less famous", their dressing room is decorated with dozens of photographs of family members. One of the subplots involves Streep hoping to extend the family tradition through her daughter, played by Lohan. A Prairie Home Companion as a radio show and film runs counter to contemporary culture with its themes about tradition and family. Much of the music is country "gospel songs" and it is a given that everyone is familiar with "Amazing Grace". While the characters may be Christian as evinced by their song choices, there is a generosity of spirit that also allows for self-exploration, doubts and room for humor in various manifestations. At a time when being an "American" seems to be so rigidly defined, A Prairie Home Companion is a small reminder that one can siltaneously be a person of faith and an unrepentant goofball.