Fackham Hall Review – This Brisk, Witty Takeoff on Downton That's Pleasantly Throwaway.

It could be the sense of an ending era pervading: after years of inactivity, the comedic send-up is enjoying a return. The recent season saw the re-emergence of this playful category, which, in its finest form, mocks the grandiosity of overly serious genre with a barrage of exaggerated stereotypes, visual jokes, and ridiculously smart wordplay.

Frivolous periods, so it goes, give rise to deliberately shallow, gag-packed, welcome light amusement.

A Recent Offering in This Absurd Wave

The latest of these silly send-ups arrives as Fackham Hall, a parody of Downton Abbey that needles the highly satirizable self-importance of gilded English costume epics. The screenplay comes from British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and directed by Jim O'Hanlon, the movie has a wealth of source material to mine and wastes none of it.

From a ludicrous start and culminating in a preposterous conclusion, this amusing upper-class adventure fills every one of its hour and a half with puns and routines ranging from the childish all the way to the genuinely funny.

A Mimicry of Upstairs, Downstairs

In the vein of Downton, Fackham Hall presents a pastiche of very self-important aristocrats and overly fawning help. The story focuses on the feckless Lord Davenport (played by a delightfully mannered Damian Lewis) and his anti-reading wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). After losing their children in a series of unfortunate mishaps, their plans are pinned on finding matches for their daughters.

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 once she pulls out, the onus falls upon the unmarried elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), considered a "dried-up husk already and and possesses unladylike beliefs about women's independence.

Where the Comedy Succeeds

The parody achieves greater effect when sending up the stifling norms placed on Edwardian-era ladies – a subject frequently explored for earnest storytelling. The stereotype of proper, coveted femininity supplies the best punching bags.

The storyline, as befitting an intentionally ridiculous spoof, takes a back seat to the gags. Carr serves them up arriving at a pleasantly funny pace. The film features a killing, an incompetent investigation, and an illicit love affair involving the roguish street urchin Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.

A Note on Frivolous Amusement

It's all in the spirit of playful comedy, though that itself comes with constraints. The dialed-up foolishness inherent to parody may tire quickly, and the entertainment value on this particular variety expires at the intersection of a skit and a full-length film.

After a while, one may desire to retreat to stories with (at least a modicum of) coherence. Yet, you have to respect a sincere commitment to the craft. In an age where we might to entertain ourselves relentlessly, we might as well laugh at it.