Written by With its release earlier this year, The Naked Gun proved there is still room for parody and satire comedies. Fackham Hall, however, proves that just because funny people are involved, you don’t automatically get a funny result.
What is Fackham Hall about?
Damian Lewis in Fackham Hall/Bleecker Street
Thomasin McKenzie, Katherine Waterston, Damian Lewis, and Tom Felton in Fackham Hall/Bleecker Street
Tom Felton and Thomasin McKenzie in Fackham Hall/Bleecker Street
Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) is an affable, streetwise pickpocket. After stumbling into a job as a porter at the prominent English estate Fackham Hall, he begins a forbidden relationship with the youngest daughter in the family, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie). At the same time, Rose’s parents deal with the fallout of a wedding day disaster between Rose’s sister Poppy (Emma Laird) and her cousin Archibald (Tom Felton). When a murder occurs, Eric is framed, throwing everyone’s future into uncertainty.
Fackham Hall Review
Damian Lewis in Fackham Hall/Bleecker Street
Whew. That is a lot for a 97-minute comedy. But even with all those plot points, nothing interesting happens in Fackham Hall (I’ll admit the name is clever, though it took me an embarrassingly long time to pick up on it.). The period piece setup to mirror Downtown Abbey is a decent enough idea. Super wealthy and haughty families, like the Davenports, are perfect marks for the spoof treatment.
But here’s the thing: the jokes have to work (shocking take, I know). Director Jim O’Hanlon and the writing team of Jimmy Carr, Patrick Carr, and the Dawson Brothers writing trio (brothers Andrew and Steve and longtime friend Tim Inman) throw everything at the wall. They’re using every spoof trick in the book, ideas you’ve seen from Airplane!, Naked Gun, and other classics.
Except that it doesn’t work here. In a vacuum, the gags on their own aren’t all bad ideas. But the delivery and execution are where it all falls flat. Damian Lewis as Lord Davenport was the only one who knew what movie he was in. The other characters feel completely miscast. Parody humor is so specific, you need to cast for certain styles and senses of humor to make it land. When you miss, you miss bad.
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And with such a huge selection of great British comedians, it’s almost unforgivable that not a single one got cast. David Mitchell, Bob Mortimer, Richard Ayoade, Sally. Phillips, just to name a few. You’re telling me they couldn’t get even one? And that’s not to say the actors are bad. Thomasin McKenzie is an incredible actress. Katherine Waterston is great. They were just the wrong choices for these roles. And (again, aside from Damian Lewis) that’s the case across the board.
When the humor fails this badly in a comedy, it almost doesn’t matter what else goes wrong. But if you’re thinking the larger story or a clever resolution might at least help a tiny bit, you can stop holding your breath.
The murder doesn’t even happen until late in the movie, giving it a rushed conclusion. There are a couple of third-act twists that come out of nowhere (though one does feel a little more obvious with the benefit of hindsight). But the entire story just sort of…happens.
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Go back to The Naked Gun, or Airplane!, Blazing Saddles, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, any of the classic parodies. They are all insanely goofy and silly and weird. But their stories still make sense in their progression. One scene flows into the next into the next, with each new development tracking with what came before. Fackham Hall took ideas that may seem funny on paper, but put in minimal effort to connect them in any sort of logical story sense.
Just so this review isn’t 100% negative, there is a decent joke about the Bechdel test. And there is a spoof character of J.R.R. Tolkien responsible for a couple of the very few memorable jokes. Nothing much to write home about, but credit where credit’s due, I suppose?
Is Fackham Hall worth watching?
Thomasin McKenzie, Katherine Waterston, Damian Lewis, and Emma Laird in Fackham Hall/Bleecker Street
Fackham Hall is a lazy attempt at parody. It tries to run back many of the bits of other, better parodies, but with none of the self-assuredness or creative wit.
Fackham Hall opens in theaters Friday, December 5.
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