Fackham Hall Review – This Fast-Paced, Witty Downton Abbey Spoof That's Pleasantly Ephemeral.
It could be the feeling of uncertain days pervading: following a long period of inactivity, the comedic send-up is enjoying a return. This summer saw the re-emergence of this unserious film style, which, at its best, mocks the pretensions of overly serious genre with a flood of pitched clichés, visual jokes, and dumb-brilliant double entendres.
Unserious times, it seems, give rise to deliberately shallow, joke-dense, pleasantly insubstantial fun.
A Recent Offering in This Silly Wave
The latest of these absurd spoofs arrives as Fackham Hall, a takeoff on the British period drama that pokes fun at the easily mockable self-importance of opulent UK historical series. The screenplay comes from British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and helmed by Jim O'Hanlon, the feature has a wealth of source material to mine and exploits every bit of it.
Starting with a absurd opening all the way to its ludicrous finish, this entertaining upper-class adventure crams all of its runtime with gags and sketches ranging from the puerile all the way to the authentically hilarious.
A Send-Up of Aristocrats and Servants
Much like Downton, Fackham Hall offers a caricature of very self-important the nobility and very obsequious help. The plot focuses on the incompetent Lord Davenport (portrayed by a delightfully mannered Damian Lewis) and his literature-hating wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). After losing their children in various unfortunate mishaps, their plans now rest on securing unions for their daughters.
One daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has secured the family goal of an engagement to the right kinsman, Archibald (a wonderfully unctuous Tom Felton). Yet after she backs out, the pressure transfers to the unmarried elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), considered a "dried-up husk of a woman" and and possesses unladylike beliefs regarding a woman's own mind.
Its Comedy Works Best
The spoof is significantly more successful when sending up the stifling social constraints forced upon early 20th-century women – a topic frequently explored for self-serious drama. The archetype of respectable, enviable womanhood offers the most fertile comic targets.
The plot, as befitting a deliberately silly parody, takes a back seat to the gags. The writer delivers them maintaining a consistently comedic pace. The film features a murder, an incompetent investigation, and a star-crossed attraction involving the plucky street urchin Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
A Note on Frivolous Amusement
The entire affair is for harmless amusement, but that very quality imposes restrictions. The heightened foolishness characteristic of the genre can wear after a while, and the comic fuel for this specific type expires somewhere between a skit and feature.
After a while, audiences could long to go back to the world of (at least a modicum of) reason. Nevertheless, you have to admire a genuine dedication to this type of comedy. If we're going to distract ourselves relentlessly, it's preferable to find the humor in it.
