A Look at Fackham Hall – A Rapid-Fire, Humorous Takeoff on Downton Which Is Refreshingly Lightweight.

It could be the notion of an ending era around us: after years of inactivity, the spoof is staging a comeback. The past few months witnessed the revival of this playful category, which, when done well, lampoons the pretensions of overly serious genres with a torrent of heightened tropes, physical comedy, and ridiculously smart wordplay.

Playful times, it seems, give rise to deliberately shallow, gag-packed, refreshingly shallow fun.

The Latest Addition in This Silly Wave

The most recent of these absurd spoofs comes in the form of Fackham Hall, a parody of Downton Abbey that pokes fun at the highly satirizable airs of opulent British period dramas. The screenplay comes from British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and directed by Jim O'Hanlon, the film has a wealth of material to work with and wastes none of it.

Starting with a ludicrous start all the way to its outrageous finale, this amusing aristocratic caper crams every one of its hour and a half with gags and sketches running the gamut from the puerile to the genuinely funny.

A Pastiche of Aristocrats and Servants

Similar to Downton, Fackham Hall delivers a spoof of very self-important aristocrats and excessively servile help. The story revolves around the incompetent Lord Davenport (portrayed by a delightfully mannered Damian Lewis) and his book-averse wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). After losing their four sons in separate calamitous events, their hopes are pinned on marrying off their two girls.

One daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has achieved the aristocratic objective of an engagement to the right first cousin, Archibald (a perfectly smarmy Tom Felton). Yet when she pulls out, the onus shifts to the unmarried elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), considered a spinster already and who harbors unladylike beliefs about a woman's own mind.

Where the Laughs Works Best

The film achieves greater effect when joking about the suffocating expectations forced upon Edwardian-era females – a subject frequently explored for earnest storytelling. The archetype of proper, coveted femininity supplies the richest punching bags.

The plot, as one would expect from an intentionally ridiculous spoof, is secondary to the jokes. The co-writer serves them up arriving at an amiably humorous pace. The film features a homicide, a farcical probe, and a forbidden romance between the plucky street urchin Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.

A Note on Frivolous Amusement

The entire affair is in lighthearted fun, but that very quality has limitations. The amplified absurdity inherent to parody might grate after a while, and the entertainment value for this specific type runs out in the space between a skit and a full-length film.

After a while, audiences could long to return to stories with (at least a modicum of) reason. Yet, one must applaud a sincere commitment to the artform. In an age where we might to entertain ourselves relentlessly, we might as well find the humor in it.