You knew it couldn’t last.
For 20 solid minutes, “Fackham Hall” parodies stuffy British dramas with a glee that would make “Airplane!” maestro David Zucker blush. Sight gags. Silly word puns. Daffy surprises.
Bliss.
Then, slowly, the film settles into an agreeable groove, leaving smiles and the sense that we almost had a modern comedy classic. It’s still a laugh-out-loud affair, one not to be missed.
But oh, what might have been!
The Davenport clan that calls Fackham Hall home is empirically inbred and darn proud of it. The family’s spinster, 23-year-old Rose Davenport (Thomasin McKenzie) is the independent gal hoping to find love the old-fashioned way.
Cousins need not apply.
Sister Poppy (Emma Laird) found a husband through, what else, the Davenport gene pool. That marriage will keep the family in Fackham Hall in perpetuity. But will the not-so-happy couple make it to the wedding day?
And what about scrappy Eric (Ben Radcliffe), the grown-up orphan who insinuates himself into Fackham Hall while turning Rose’s head at the same time?
It’s a perfectly droll set up for 90 minutes of pure parody fun, with a murder mystery on top for good measure. Director Jim O’Hanlon (TV’s “Trying”) and a gaggle of screenwriters (including Jimmy Carr and brother Patrick) have fun with the extreme class divides without overdosing on woke lectures. Phew.
Some jokes are on the naughty side, giving the film a mild R rating. Others are just plain silly. A few prove to be downright marvels of ingenuity. No spoilers here. The film’s witty trailer gives audiences a sense of what’s to come.
Thankfully, it’s not a case where the best jokes are shoehorned into the marketing material.
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Comedy works best when it catches us by surprise, and the film’s crisp editing gives every joke a fighting chance. There’s not a second wasted here, and that’s by design.
Some jokes tumble out in predictable fashion, but that only adds to the fun. We’re bludgeoned by bits large and small, putting us in a giddy mood that refuses to leave. You have to watch closely to catch them all, further investing us in this silly saga.
It’s still frustrating that that extreme level of mirth can’t be sustained.
The best running gag of all, working just below the surface, is the air of entitlement felt throughout the Davenport clan. It’s best exemplified by Tom Felton, the “Harry Potter” alum playing the oh, so ordinary Archibald.
He’s prime marriage material – a Davenport cousin is all it takes – but he’s so unworthy even he senses it.
The cast isn’t inspired, but the actors never let the material down. And look for Jimmy Carr’s cameo as a priest who doesn’t know where one sentence ends and the next begins. It’s a running gag that doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Some genres cry out for the parody treatment. Horror gets endlessly teased, from the “Scary Movie” franchise to that “Cabin in the Woods.” The stuffy “Downton Abbey” franchise didn’t seem suitable for this sort of shakedown, but the results speak for themselves.
“Fackham Hall” is smart enough to lean into its pompous tropes with a loving wink.
HiT or Miss: “Fackham Hall” is an Oscar season surprise, a warm and witty romp deflating British pomp and circumstance.