Overseeing the cast is the show’s emcee, G.K. (Keillor), who repeats the same stories to the crew and shows other signs of increasing age – until the curtain goes up, and he masterfully leads the team through the ups and downs of one last live broadcast.

The film has several enjoyable stretches, with memorable performances from Kline, Streep and Madsen. Although it’s never deeply absorbing, Companion has some beautiful, touching moments. It is suffused with a mainline religious sensibility – stoic but respectful toward religious traditions, although explicit expressions of abiding faith are relegated mostly to a few deeply affecting musical numbers. However, some of the singers leave any heartfelt convictions on stage, coming across as shallow or simply cruel at other times.

The exception is Madsen’s mysterious character, billed in the credits as the “dangerous woman.” Her slowly revealed identity allows her to speak more reverently about the spiritual. These assertions don’t stand up to close biblical scrutiny, but the underlying impulse often is admirable and produces several moving moments.

"A Prairie Home Companion" balances nostalgia with an inexorable sense of impending mortality for the beloved performers and for the show itself. Director Altman, now in his 80s and reportedly frail during filming, seems to acknowledge that it’s coming for him as well, and for audiences preferring character-driven dramas that don’t insult their intelligence.

If nothing else, "A Prairie Home Companion" reminds us that the hour is late, and films like this one far too few. It’s not anywhere close to perfect, but, like its radio counterpart, it has its pleasures.

AUDIENCE: Teens and up.

CAUTIONS:

• Language/Profanity:  Lord’s name taken in vain; several profanities; the song “Bad Jokes” strings together a series of crude jokes; numerous double-entendres.
• Drugs/Alcohol:  Guy Noir spikes his coffee, drinks from a flask and rolls cigarettes.
• Sex/Nudity:  Two backstage performers carry on a sexual relationship. Guy Noir ogles a female character and describes, in revealing voiceover, her outfit and looks; a pregnant woman will soon be a single mom.
• Violence:  A woman recounts a sudden, tragic death.
• Suicide:  One character is obsessed with suicide.
• Religion:  An angel speaks about the “fullness of time in the Spirit” and appears to several cast members, but her underlying theology is problematic; the Johnson sisters speak derisively of “Christian audiences” but also sing traditional hymns with conviction; a character jokes about how coffee is necessary to stay awake during a sermon.