Fackham Hall Review – This Brisk, Funny Downton Abbey Spoof Which Is Refreshingly Throwaway.

It could be the notion of an ending era in the air: following a long period of dormancy, the parody is enjoying a return. The recent season observed the revival of this lighthearted genre, which, at its best, skewers the self-importance of pompously earnest genre with a barrage of exaggerated stereotypes, sight gags, and ridiculously smart wordplay.

Playful periods, so it goes, create an appetite for self-awarely frivolous, joke-dense, refreshingly shallow entertainment.

A Recent Offering in This Goofy Resurgence

The newest of these absurd spoofs arrives as Fackham Hall, a parody of Downton Abbey that jabs at the very pokeable pretensions of wealthy English costume epics. Co-written by British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and helmed by Jim O'Hanlon, the movie finds ample of source material to work with and uses all of it.

From a absurd opening all the way to its outrageous finale, this enjoyable upper-class adventure crams each of its hour and a half with jokes and bits ranging from the childish to the authentically hilarious.

A Send-Up of Upstairs, Downstairs

Similar to Downton, Fackham Hall presents a spoof of very self-important aristocrats and excessively servile help. The plot revolves around the incompetent Lord Davenport (portrayed by a delightfully mannered Damian Lewis) and his literature-hating wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Following the loss of their four sons in separate unfortunate mishaps, their plans fall upon securing unions for their two girls.

The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has accomplished the family goal of betrothal to the appropriate first cousin, Archibald (a wonderfully unctuous Tom Felton). Yet when she withdraws, the pressure shifts to the single elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), who is a "dried-up husk at 23 and and holds radically progressive notions regarding a woman's own mind.

The Film's Comedy Works Best

The parody fares much better when sending up the suffocating norms placed on early 20th-century females – a topic often mined for po-faced melodrama. The archetype of idealized femininity provides the richest comic targets.

The storyline, as one would expect from an intentionally ridiculous send-up, takes a back seat to the bits. The writer serves them up maintaining an amiably humorous pace. Included is a murder, an incompetent investigation, and an illicit love affair between the roguish street urchin Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.

Limitations and Pure Silliness

The entire affair is in lighthearted fun, though that itself comes with constraints. The dialed-up silliness characteristic of the genre may tire quickly, and the mileage for this specific type runs out in the space between a skit and a full-length film.

At a certain point, one may desire to go back to stories with (very slight) reason. But, one must respect a wholehearted devotion to the craft. Given that we are to amuse ourselves unto oblivion, let's at least find the humor in it.