Fackham Hall Review – This Brisk, Witty Parody of Downton Abbey Which Is Refreshingly Ephemeral.

Perhaps the notion of end times pervading: following a long period of dormancy, the parody is staging a resurgence. The past few months witnessed the rebirth of this unserious film style, which, in its finest form, lampoons the self-importance of excessively solemn dramas with a barrage of pitched clichés, physical comedy, and stupid-clever puns.

Unserious eras, apparently, beget deliberately shallow, gag-packed, pleasantly insubstantial fun.

The Latest Entry in This Silly Resurgence

The newest of these absurd spoofs comes in the form of Fackham Hall, a parody of Downton Abbey that pokes fun at the very pokeable pretensions of gilded British period dramas. The screenplay comes from stand-up performer Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the feature has a wealth of material to mine and uses all of it.

Starting with a ludicrous start to a ludicrous finish, this amusing upper-class adventure packs each of its runtime with puns and routines running the gamut from the juvenile to the genuinely funny.

A Send-Up of Upstairs, Downstairs

In the vein of Downton, Fackham Hall offers a caricature of overly dignified rich people and very obsequious servants. The narrative revolves around the hapless Lord Davenport (played by an enjoyably affected Damian Lewis) and his anti-reading wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Having lost their male heirs in various tragic accidents, their aspirations fall upon finding matches for their offspring.

The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has accomplished the family goal of an engagement to the suitable kinsman, Archibald (a wonderfully unctuous Tom Felton). However when she withdraws, the pressure shifts to the unattached elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), who is a spinster of a woman" and and holds dangerously modern notions about a woman's own mind.

Its Laughs Works Best

The parody fares much better when satirizing the oppressive expectations imposed on pre-war ladies – an area typically treated for po-faced melodrama. The archetype of proper, coveted ladylike behavior provides the best punching bags.

The narrative thread, as one would expect from a deliberately silly spoof, is secondary to the jokes. The co-writer keeps them maintaining a consistently comedic clip. Included is a homicide, a bungled inquiry, and an illicit love affair between the charming thief Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.

Limitations and Pure Silliness

Everything is in lighthearted fun, though that itself imposes restrictions. The heightened foolishness characteristic of the genre might grate over time, and the mileage in this instance runs out at the intersection of a skit and feature.

At a certain point, audiences could long to retreat to the world of (at least a modicum of) logic. Yet, you have to admire a sincere commitment to the craft. In an age where we might to distract ourselves relentlessly, it's preferable to see the funny side.