A new porter forms an odd bond with the youngest daughter of a well-known UK family. As the Davenport family, headed by Lord and Lady Davenport, deals with the epic disaster of the wedding of their eldest daughter to her caddish cousin.
Chuck says:
to be in a properly silly state of mind to enjoy Jim O’Hanlon’s “Fackham Hall,” a ribald comedy that casts a wide net in its efforts to generate laughs. To say its five writers take a scattershot approach to this parody is an understatement akin to saying the Titanic had a slight mishap. Every tool in the Comedy Handbook is employed in this parody of “Downton Abbey” and the drawing room murder genre, more of the jokes landing than not. Then again, as with every comedy, your mileage will vary. If seeing a young heiress run off with a manure salesman who advertises he makes deliveries by hand tickles your funny bone, then “Hall” is your cup of tea.
The titular estate has been owned by the Davenports for centuries. The current Lord Davenport (Damian Lewis) and his wife Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston) are intent on marrying their youngest daughter (Emma Laird) to her first cousin, Archibald (Tom Felton), the presumed heir of the family fortune. However, when she jilts him at the altar, this unappealing family duty falls the eldest daughter, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie). What with being at the ripe old age of 23, she was not initially considered, as her mother describes her as a “worn out husk of a woman.”
As with most arranged marriages, Rose does not love her intended but rather has eyes for the new servant, Eric (Ben Radcliffe). Their difference in social station makes it impossible for them to wed. However, plans for the wedding are put on the back burner when Lord Davenport is found stabbed, shot, strangled and poisoned to death in his study. The clueless Inspector Watt (Tom Goodman-Hill) is called in to investigate.
The gags and double entendres come fast and furious, the writers believing at times in quantity over quality. Yet, it’s hard not be amused by the priest who ignores all punctuation in his sermons, resulting in one inappropriate phrase after another or jokes referring to London as being the birth place of emphysema and child exploitation.
The film wonderfully skewers the pomposity of the upper class again and again, underscoring their useless nature and isolation from real world concerns. When it’s said that Lord Davenport never lifts a finger, this statement is enacted literally, Lewis proving to be an unexpectedly effective physical comedian.
The gags are quite silly at times, so broad in fact they wouldn’t be out of place in a Monty Python skit or a film like “Airplane.” Subtlety doesn’t raise its austere head here, as jokes regarding flatulence abound, while a hunt goes horribly awry, with deer being shot out of the sky, only to land on an unsuspecting footman. It’s that kind of movie.
Before all is said and done, a hoary secret straight out of a Dickens novel is revealed, a deus ex machina device that sets all things right. Sporting, according to the writers, 280 jokes – which is nearly three per minute – you have to applaud the sheer effort that’s gone into the film as well as the work of the cast, all of them fully committed to the goofy nature of this enterprise. In the end, “Hall,” while not producing any big laughs, generates just enough guffaws, chuckles and knowing grins to pass muster.
2 1/2 Stars
