Fackham Hall – A Brisk, Humorous Parody of Downton Abbey That's Refreshingly Lightweight.

It could be the feeling of an ending era in the air: subsequent to a lengthy span of inactivity, the spoof is enjoying a resurgence. The recent season witnessed the revival of this lighthearted genre, which, in its finest form, mocks the pretensions of pompously earnest dramas with a torrent of pitched clichés, visual jokes, and stupid-clever puns.

Unserious periods, so it goes, beget deliberately shallow, joke-dense, welcome light fun.

The Latest Offering in This Silly Wave

The most recent of these absurd spoofs is Fackham Hall, a takeoff on the British period drama that needles the highly satirizable airs of wealthy English costume epics. Penned in part by British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and helmed by Jim O'Hanlon, the movie finds ample of inspiration to work with and wastes none of it.

From a ludicrous start to a ludicrous finish, this enjoyable aristocratic caper fills all of its 97 minutes with puns and routines running the gamut from the childish all the way to the genuinely funny.

A Send-Up of Upstairs, Downstairs

Similar to Downton, Fackham Hall offers a caricature of overly dignified the nobility and excessively servile servants. The narrative revolves around the hapless Lord Davenport (brought to life by a delightfully mannered Damian Lewis) and his anti-reading wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). After losing their male heirs in a series of tragic accidents, their aspirations now rest on finding matches for their offspring.

The younger daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has accomplished the dynastic aim of betrothal to the suitable close relative, Archibald (a perfectly smarmy Tom Felton). But when she pulls out, the pressure shifts to the unmarried elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), who is a spinster at 23 and who harbors radically progressive ideas regarding a woman's own mind.

Where the Comedy Succeeds

The film achieves greater effect when joking about the suffocating social constraints forced upon Edwardian-era women – a topic often mined for self-serious drama. The trope of respectable, enviable femininity offers the richest comic targets.

The plot, as is fitting for a purposefully absurd parody, is secondary to the jokes. The co-writer keeps them arriving at a consistently comedic clip. The film features a killing, an incompetent investigation, and an illicit love affair involving the roguish street urchin Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.

The Constraints of Pure Silliness

Everything is in the spirit of playful comedy, though that itself has limitations. The heightened foolishness of a spoof may tire quickly, and the comic fuel on this particular variety expires at the intersection of a skit and a full-length film.

Eventually, audiences could long to return to the world of (very slight) coherence. But, it's necessary to respect a wholehearted devotion to this type of comedy. Given that we are to distract ourselves unto oblivion, let's at least see the funny side.