A Look at Fackham Hall – This Brisk, Witty Downton Abbey Spoof Which Is Pleasantly Lightweight.

It could be the notion of end times in the air: after years of dormancy, the comedic send-up is staging a resurgence. The past few months saw the revival of this playful category, which, in its finest form, mocks the pretensions of pompously earnest genre with a barrage of heightened tropes, physical comedy, and ridiculously smart wordplay.

Playful periods, apparently, create an appetite for deliberately shallow, joke-dense, refreshingly shallow amusement.

The Latest Offering in This Goofy Trend

The most recent of these goofy parodies is Fackham Hall, a parody of Downton Abbey that needles the very pokeable self-importance of opulent British period dramas. Penned in part by British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and helmed by Jim O'Hanlon, the movie finds ample of inspiration to draw from and uses all of it.

Starting with a ludicrous start all the way to its ludicrous finish, this amusing silver-spoon romp packs all of its hour and a half with puns and routines running the gamut from the puerile to the genuinely funny.

A Send-Up of The Gentry and Staff

Much like Downton, Fackham Hall delivers a pastiche of very self-important the nobility and excessively servile servants. The plot revolves around the hapless Lord Davenport (portrayed by a wonderfully pretentious Damian Lewis) and his literature-hating wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Following the loss of their male heirs in various tragic accidents, their plans now rest on securing unions for their two girls.

The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has secured the family goal of betrothal to the right kinsman, Archibald (an impeccably slimy Tom Felton). However once she pulls out, the pressure falls upon the single elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), described as an old maid of a woman" and and possesses unladylike beliefs concerning women's independence.

Where the Laughs Works Best

The film fares much better when satirizing the oppressive norms imposed on Edwardian-era women – a topic frequently explored for earnest storytelling. The stereotype of idealized womanhood supplies the best comic targets.

The plot, as one would expect from an intentionally ridiculous parody, is of lesser importance to the gags. Carr delivers them arriving at a pleasantly funny pace. There is a killing, a bungled inquiry, and a forbidden romance involving the charming thief Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.

Limitations and Frivolous Amusement

It's all for harmless amusement, however, this approach comes with constraints. The dialed-up absurdity of a spoof might grate quickly, and the comic fuel on this particular variety expires at the intersection of sketch and feature.

Eventually, you might wish to retreat to the world of (at least a modicum of) reason. Nevertheless, it's necessary to respect a genuine dedication to the artform. If we're going to distract ourselves to death, we might as well see the funny side.