Fackham Hall Review – A Brisk, Witty Takeoff on Downton Which Is Pleasantly Ephemeral.
Perhaps the sense of an ending era pervading: following a long period of dormancy, the comedic send-up is enjoying a return. The past few months witnessed the rebirth of this lighthearted genre, which, when done well, lampoons the self-importance of overly serious genres with a flood of heightened tropes, sight gags, and dumb-brilliant double entendres.
Frivolous times, so it goes, beget deliberately shallow, laugh-filled, pleasantly insubstantial amusement.
A Recent Offering in This Goofy Wave
The newest of these goofy parodies is Fackham Hall, a parody of Downton Abbey that needles the easily mockable pretensions of opulent English costume epics. The screenplay comes from stand-up performer Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the feature has plenty of inspiration to mine and uses all of it.
Starting with a absurd opening all the way to its preposterous conclusion, this entertaining upper-class adventure crams all of its 97 minutes with puns and routines ranging from the juvenile up to the truly humorous.
A Mimicry of The Gentry and Staff
In the vein of Downton, Fackham Hall delivers a spoof of very self-important aristocrats and overly fawning staff. The story revolves around the hapless Lord Davenport (portrayed by an enjoyably affected Damian Lewis) and his literature-hating wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Having lost their children in a series of unfortunate mishaps, their aspirations fall upon finding matches for their two girls.
The younger daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has accomplished the aristocratic objective of a promise to marry the right first cousin, Archibald (an impeccably slimy Tom Felton). However once she withdraws, the burden shifts to the unattached elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), described as a "dried-up husk already and and holds unladylike beliefs about a woman's own mind.
The Film's Laughs Succeeds
The film fares much better when joking about the oppressive expectations imposed on Edwardian-era females – an area frequently explored for earnest storytelling. The stereotype of proper, coveted ladylike behavior offers the best comic targets.
The narrative thread, as is fitting for an intentionally ridiculous send-up, is secondary to the jokes. Carr keeps them coming at a pleasantly funny clip. Included is a murder, an incompetent investigation, and a star-crossed attraction involving the roguish street urchin Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
The Constraints of Lighthearted Fun
Everything is in the spirit of playful comedy, though that itself imposes restrictions. The dialed-up silliness of a spoof may tire over time, and the entertainment value for this specific type expires somewhere between a skit and feature.
At a certain point, one may desire to retreat to the world of (very slight) reason. But, one must applaud a wholehearted devotion to this type of comedy. In an age where we might to entertain ourselves relentlessly, we might as well laugh at it.
