A Look at Fackham Hall – This Fast-Paced, Humorous Parody of Downton Abbey That's Refreshingly Lightweight.
Perhaps the feeling of an ending era around us: subsequent to a lengthy span of dormancy, the spoof is making a return. This summer witnessed the revival of this lighthearted genre, which, when done well, lampoons the grandiosity of excessively solemn genres with a flood of exaggerated stereotypes, sight gags, and ridiculously smart wordplay.
Unserious periods, apparently, create an appetite for deliberately shallow, joke-dense, pleasantly insubstantial fun.
A Recent Entry in This Goofy Wave
The newest of these silly send-ups is Fackham Hall, a parody of Downton Abbey that pokes fun at the highly satirizable airs of gilded British period dramas. The screenplay comes from British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the feature has plenty of material to work with and uses all of it.
Starting with a ludicrous start all the way to its ludicrous finish, this enjoyable upper-class adventure packs each of its runtime with puns and routines running the gamut from the puerile all the way to the genuinely funny.
A Mimicry of Upstairs, Downstairs
Much like Downton, Fackham Hall presents a spoof of very self-important the nobility and overly fawning help. The story centers on the hapless Lord Davenport (brought to life by an enjoyably affected Damian Lewis) and his book-averse wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Following the loss of their four sons in separate unfortunate mishaps, their plans fall upon marrying off their two girls.
The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has secured the dynastic aim of an engagement to the appropriate kinsman, Archibald (a wonderfully unctuous Tom Felton). But when she backs out, the burden falls upon the unmarried elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), who is an old maid already and and holds radically progressive ideas about women's independence.
Its Humor Lands Most Effectively
The film achieves greater effect when satirizing the suffocating norms forced upon Edwardian-era women – a topic frequently explored for earnest storytelling. The archetype of respectable, enviable ladylike behavior offers the best comic targets.
The plot, as one would expect from a purposefully absurd send-up, is of lesser importance to the jokes. Carr keeps them maintaining a consistently comedic rate. There is a killing, a farcical probe, and an illicit love affair featuring the charming thief Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
The Constraints of Pure Silliness
It's all in the spirit of playful comedy, though that itself imposes restrictions. The dialed-up absurdity characteristic of the genre might grate after a while, and the comic fuel for this specific type expires at the intersection of a skit and feature.
After a while, audiences could long to go back to a realm of (very slight) logic. Nevertheless, one must respect a wholehearted devotion to this type of comedy. In an age where we might to amuse ourselves relentlessly, let's at least find the humor in it.
