A Look at Fackham Hall – This Brisk, Humorous Takeoff on Downton Which Is Delightfully Throwaway.

Maybe the feeling of an ending era in the air: following a long period of dormancy, the parody is staging a comeback. The recent season witnessed the re-emergence of this lighthearted genre, which, when done well, skewers the pretensions of overly serious genre with a torrent of pitched clichés, visual jokes, and stupid-clever puns.

Playful times, it seems, give rise to knowingly unserious, joke-dense, pleasantly insubstantial fun.

The Newest Entry in This Absurd Trend

The latest of these absurd spoofs arrives as Fackham Hall, a takeoff on the British period drama that needles the easily mockable airs of gilded UK historical series. Penned in part by British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the film has plenty of inspiration to draw from and uses all of it.

Starting with a ridiculous beginning and culminating in a outrageous finale, this amusing aristocratic caper crams all of its runtime with jokes and bits running the gamut from the childish up to the genuinely funny.

A Send-Up of The Gentry and Staff

Similar to Downton, Fackham Hall delivers a spoof of very self-important the nobility and overly fawning servants. The plot revolves around the hapless Lord Davenport (played by a wonderfully pretentious Damian Lewis) and his book-averse wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). After losing their male heirs in various unfortunate mishaps, their plans fall upon finding matches for their two girls.

The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has secured the dynastic aim of an engagement to the suitable kinsman, Archibald (a perfectly smarmy Tom Felton). But when she backs out, the onus transfers to the unmarried elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), considered an old maid of a woman" and who harbors dangerously modern ideas regarding female autonomy.

The Film's Humor Works Best

The spoof achieves greater effect when sending up the stifling norms imposed on Edwardian-era females – a subject typically treated for earnest storytelling. The trope of proper, coveted femininity offers the most fertile material for mockery.

The narrative thread, as is fitting for an intentionally ridiculous parody, takes a back seat to the jokes. The writer keeps them coming at an amiably humorous rate. The film features a homicide, a farcical probe, and an illicit love affair between the roguish pickpocket Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.

Limitations and Lighthearted Fun

Everything is in the spirit of playful comedy, though that itself imposes restrictions. The heightened silliness inherent to parody might grate over time, and the comic fuel in this instance expires at the intersection of sketch and feature.

After a while, you might wish to go back to stories with (at least a modicum of) coherence. Nevertheless, it's necessary to admire a genuine dedication to the craft. If we're going to amuse ourselves unto oblivion, we might as well find the humor in it.