Released: 19th February
Seen: 30th March
From 2010 until 2015, Downton Abbey was a mainstay of the television landscape. It was a cultural phenomenon that absolutely drowned in awards from all directions and is one of the rare TV series that would get to continue after its cancellation in the world of Feature Films. It could be suggested that without Downton Abbey being such a massive hit, we might not have series like Bridgerton or The Crown. It effectively started a wave of historical British dramas focused largely on the upper class that could live in lavish houses and only see a poor person whenever a servant was needed to clear out a chamber pot. Basically it’s the kind of genre that has been almost begging to have the almighty piss taken out of it for quite some time and with Fackham Hall, someone finally came along to do exactly that.
Fackham Hall takes place, funnily enough, in the mansion known as Fackham Hall which is where the Davenport family currently reside. Since Lord Davenport (Damian Lewis) currently doesn’t have a male heir, his daughter Rose (Thomasin McKenzie) must marry her first cousin Archibald (Tom Felton) which will obviously allow the Davenport family to keep living in Fackham Hall. Meanwhile, a mysterious commoner named Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) has arrived to take a job among the staff that keep Fackham Hall running and ends up falling for the lovely Rose. From there, the house is filled with misunderstandings, intrigue, romance and even a spot of murder that will make things very awkward to say the least.
Fackham Hall really understands what makes these parody films work well, namely it has a deep reverence for the kind of genre that it’s making fun of and plays everything about as seriously as one can, even when things get incredibly silly. Every single performer is acting like they’re in a grand British drama, with really only Damian Lewis doing anything that might be considered over the top and that constant attempt to play things seriously ends up heightening all the wackiness that ensues. They actually manage to make characters that you can root for and enjoy, not just vessels for cheap jokes and when it comes to parody films it’s very easy for the characters to just be stereotypes you hang jokes from.
The actual jokes that Fackham Hall employs run the gamut from pure slapstick to bawdy smut to some genuinely witty wordplay. There’s a willingness to play around and just try a little of everything because eventually one of these jokes is going to land. The better films in this genre have a tendency to just throw out every joke they can think of in hopes of a few landing and while this one does fire them off a little less rapid fire than other films might (it’s making fun of slow moving British dramas, taking it’s time actually fits the tone it’s going for) it still has no problem just throwing out jokes that range from genius to the dumbest fucking thing you’ve ever heard, but so dumb you can’t help but laugh.
What’s also wildly impressive is that Fackham Hall manages to be funny and push a fair few boundaries without ever slipping into being mean about the thing it’s parodying. This isn’t a takedown, it’s a roast that’s done with a clear amount of affection. You really can only make some of these jokes if you actually understand the material you’re making fun of, it’s not always going for the most obvious gag (though this film is also unafraid to grab at the low-hanging fruit if it appears ripe enough) and will actually work to earn the laugh. Of course, sometimes it might just lift jokes wholesale from other comedies, but it does them so well you can’t begrudge it. Is the introduction of the Inspector Watt (Tom Goodman-Hill) character nothing more than a mild reimagining of the Who’s On First routine made famous by Abbott and Costello? Absolutely, but it’s done so well that even they would probably appreciate it.
Of course, one slight problem Fackham Hall has is that it does throw a few too many plots into the mix which can make it harder to follow. In my synopsis earlier I touched upon the main one but the blending of a murder mystery, the potential of being evicted from Fackham Hall, the mystery of Eric’s lineage, the marriage of Rose and Archibald, a jail break, a runaway bride situation and many more are all kind of thrown in. It feels like a season’s worth of plots crammed violently into a single hour and a half and it almost distracts from the comedy. For a film that’s trying to just be a silly little parody with a title that kind of sounds like fuck them all if you put on a strong enough cockney accent it’s really pushing it with how much story it expects you to actually follow for some of the later jokes to work.
It must also be pointed out that if the Downton Abbey/The Crown/Bridgerton style of show actively annoys you then this isn’t going to really work either. Sometimes you can enjoy a parody without liking the thing it’s parodying, look at Scary Movie as a pretty good example of that, but this one you at least have to be willing to tolerate the tropes because Fackham Hall is going to recreate them pretty lovingly so it can work as a joke. This means the performance style, some of the dialogue and all those little elements are present here… this might seem obvious but it’s a goddamn stupid looking comedy, might as well point it out while it’s here.
However, if you do at least have a passing appreciation for the subgenre of British historical dramas and want to see a pretty good riff on the form, Fackham Hall absolutely delivers on that. It’s genuinely pretty damn funny, enough to make the viewer laugh out loud in multiple places. It’s not an absolute all time great, we’re not looking at a new Blazing Saddles over here but considering that we haven’t had a really great parody film in a while it’s nice to see one that just does the job and does it pretty damn well. An easy way to spend a couple of hours just chuckling at some British people being kind of stupid… and who doesn’t love to laugh at stupid British people?
Movie Meister Reviews 