Fackham Hall Review – A Brisk, Witty Downton Abbey Spoof Which Is Pleasantly Ephemeral.

Perhaps the notion of uncertain days around us: subsequent to a lengthy span of dormancy, the comedic send-up is staging a return. The recent season witnessed the revival of this lighthearted genre, which, in its finest form, skewers the pretensions of overly serious genre with a flood of pitched clichés, visual jokes, and dumb-brilliant double entendres.

Unserious eras, so it goes, create an appetite for knowingly unserious, joke-dense, welcome light entertainment.

The Latest Offering in This Silly Trend

The most recent of these goofy parodies comes in the form of Fackham Hall, a Downton Abbey spoof that pokes fun at the highly satirizable airs of opulent British period dramas. Co-written by British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the movie finds ample of source material to work with and exploits every bit of it.

Starting with a ludicrous start all the way to its preposterous conclusion, this enjoyable aristocratic caper crams every one of its 97 minutes with jokes and bits running the gamut from the childish to the genuinely funny.

A Send-Up of Upstairs, Downstairs

Similar to Downton, Fackham Hall offers a spoof of extremely pompous rich people and overly fawning help. The plot revolves around the incompetent Lord Davenport (portrayed by a delightfully mannered Damian Lewis) and his anti-reading wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Following the loss of their children in various tragic accidents, their aspirations fall upon securing unions for their offspring.

The younger daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has secured the aristocratic objective of a promise to marry the right first cousin, Archibald (an impeccably slimy Tom Felton). But once she pulls out, the pressure transfers to the single elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), considered a "dried-up husk already and and possesses dangerously modern ideas concerning a woman's own mind.

Its Comedy Lands Most Effectively

The parody fares much better when satirizing the suffocating norms forced upon early 20th-century women – a topic often mined for self-serious drama. The stereotype of respectable, enviable ladylike behavior supplies the best punching bags.

The plot, as is fitting for a purposefully absurd spoof, takes a back seat to the bits. Carr serves them up coming at a pleasantly funny clip. The film features a murder, a bungled inquiry, and a star-crossed attraction featuring the roguish pickpocket Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.

A Note on Frivolous Amusement

It's all for harmless amusement, though that itself imposes restrictions. The amplified absurdity characteristic of the genre may tire after a while, and the entertainment value for this specific type expires at the intersection of sketch and a full-length film.

Eventually, audiences could long to retreat to the world of (very slight) reason. Nevertheless, you have to admire a sincere commitment to the artform. If we're going to amuse ourselves relentlessly, it's preferable to laugh at it.