Fackham Hall Review – A Rapid-Fire, Funny Parody of Downton Abbey Which Is Pleasantly Ephemeral.

Maybe the sense of end times around us: after years of inactivity, the spoof is making a return. The recent season observed the rebirth of this unserious film style, which, when done well, mocks the grandiosity of overly serious dramas with a torrent of exaggerated stereotypes, visual jokes, and stupid-clever puns.

Frivolous times, it seems, give rise to self-awarely frivolous, gag-packed, welcome light fun.

The Newest Offering in This Silly Trend

The latest of these goofy parodies is Fackham Hall, a takeoff on the British period drama that pokes fun at the highly satirizable self-importance of gilded UK historical series. Co-written by UK-Irish comic Jimmy Carr and directed by Jim O'Hanlon, the feature has plenty of source material to work with and exploits every bit of it.

From a ridiculous beginning and culminating in a outrageous finale, this entertaining silver-spoon romp crams all of its hour and a half with gags and sketches that vary from the juvenile up to the genuinely funny.

A Mimicry of Upstairs, Downstairs

Similar to Downton, Fackham Hall offers a caricature of very self-important aristocrats and excessively servile servants. The plot revolves around the hapless Lord Davenport (played by a wonderfully pretentious Damian Lewis) and his literature-hating wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Having lost their four sons in various calamitous events, their plans now rest on securing unions for their daughters.

The younger daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has achieved the aristocratic objective of an engagement to the suitable kinsman, Archibald (an impeccably slimy Tom Felton). However when she withdraws, the pressure shifts to the single elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), who is an old maid at 23 and and holds dangerously modern ideas concerning female autonomy.

Where the Comedy Works Best

The spoof fares much better when satirizing the suffocating social constraints imposed on early 20th-century ladies – a topic frequently explored for self-serious drama. The stereotype of idealized ladylike behavior provides the best punching bags.

The plot, as one would expect from a purposefully absurd spoof, takes a back seat to the jokes. Carr keeps them coming at a pleasantly funny clip. Included is a murder, a farcical probe, and a star-crossed attraction between the charming thief Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.

A Note on Frivolous Amusement

The entire affair is for harmless amusement, though that itself has limitations. The heightened silliness inherent to parody can wear after a while, and the mileage on this particular variety diminishes somewhere between sketch and feature.

After a while, you might wish to go back to stories with (at least a modicum of) reason. Nevertheless, one must respect a sincere commitment to this type of comedy. Given that we are to entertain ourselves relentlessly, let's at least see the funny side.