Fackham Hall – This Brisk, Funny Downton Abbey Spoof That's Pleasantly Throwaway.

Perhaps the notion of uncertain days in the air: subsequent to a lengthy span of dormancy, the comedic send-up is making a return. The past few months witnessed the revival of this unserious film style, which, in its finest form, skewers the self-importance of overly serious genre with a barrage of pitched clichés, visual jokes, and ridiculously smart wordplay.

Frivolous eras, so it goes, create an appetite for knowingly unserious, joke-dense, welcome light entertainment.

The Newest Addition in This Absurd Wave

The newest of these goofy parodies arrives as Fackham Hall, a takeoff on the British period drama that jabs at the highly satirizable pretensions of wealthy UK historical series. Penned in part by stand-up performer Jimmy Carr and directed by Jim O'Hanlon, the film has plenty of material to draw from and uses all of it.

From a ridiculous beginning to a preposterous conclusion, this entertaining silver-spoon romp crams every one of its hour and a half with puns and routines that vary from the juvenile all the way to the truly humorous.

A Send-Up of Aristocrats and Servants

In the vein of Downton, Fackham Hall delivers a spoof of very self-important aristocrats and very obsequious staff. The plot centers on the incompetent Lord Davenport (brought to life by a delightfully mannered Damian Lewis) and his anti-reading wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Following the loss of their male heirs in separate unfortunate mishaps, their aspirations are pinned on marrying off their offspring.

One daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has accomplished the dynastic aim of a promise to marry the suitable close relative, Archibald (a perfectly smarmy Tom Felton). Yet when she backs out, the onus falls upon the single elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), considered a spinster of a woman" and and holds dangerously modern ideas concerning women's independence.

Its Laughs Works Best

The spoof fares much better when satirizing the oppressive expectations imposed on Edwardian-era females – an area often mined for po-faced melodrama. The trope of idealized ladylike behavior provides the best punching bags.

The storyline, as is fitting for a purposefully absurd spoof, is of lesser importance to the jokes. Carr delivers them coming at a pleasantly funny clip. There is a murder, a farcical probe, and an illicit love affair involving the roguish street urchin Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.

A Note on Frivolous Amusement

The entire affair is in lighthearted fun, though that itself has limitations. The amplified foolishness of a spoof may tire quickly, and the comic fuel for this specific type diminishes somewhere between sketch and a full-length film.

After a while, one may desire to retreat to a realm of (at least a modicum of) coherence. Nevertheless, you have to applaud a genuine dedication to the artform. If we're going to entertain ourselves unto oblivion, it's preferable to laugh at it.