Fackham Hall: An Attempted Comedy That Emphasizes Quantity Over Quality (Blu-ray)

The Film:

When it comes to writing comedy, it's one of those talents that you either have or you don't. There are those that can actually come up with well-formed, clever jokes that get plenty of laughs, while others will settle for aiming much lower, populating their project with lazy, uninspired humor that clearly shows that the writer just doesn't have a knack for it (with the recent attempted reboot of "The Naked Gun" being a prime example). This brings us to Jim O'Hanlon's "Fackham Hall," a comedy that attempts to bring a little levity to a "Downton Abbey"-esque set-up, with a hint of "Gosford Park" thrown in for good measure. Will the five (!) screenwriters be able to successfully tap into the humor of such a scenario, or will this merely be another comedy that fails to garner any laughter?

Taking place primarily at the titular estate, we meet Lord (Damian Lewis) and Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston), whose daughter Poppy (Emma Laird) is about to marry their cousin Archibald (Tom Felton) in order to keep their home in the family. Meanwhile, an orphan named Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) is tasked with delivering a message to Lord Davenport, but is mistaken for an applicant for a vacant "hall boy" position, taking the job and quickly finding himself attracted to the Davenports' other daughter, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), who returns his affection. However, after Poppy runs away from her own wedding to be with a manure salesman, her mother decides that Rose should marry Archibald instead. Will she be able to go through with it, or will her relationship with Eric prevent her from fulfilling her family's wishes?

"Fackham Hall" is one of those comedies that let's you know what its level of humor is going to be pretty much right from the start. In the first few minutes alone, it inundates the audience with one cheap, lazy, and obvious joke after another, as if to inform us that the multitude of screenwriters had chosen an approach that valued quantity over quantity, throwing everything possible against the wall in the hope & prayer that at least something would stick. Unfortunately for them, they don't have the knack for the genre mentioned earlier, sadly leading just about every joke to land with a dull thud, and naturally begging the question of why it took five people to write such a film.

The strange part of it is that there are a couple of truly inspired moments of comedy, both of which come from a preacher delivering several amusing bits of wordplay during the weddings, showing that at least one of the writers had the ability to come up with some witty & clever material. However, it ends up standing in stark contrast to the rest of the film, where no wit or thought was put into the weak comedic material. In fact, something very similar could be said of its attempt to parody the classic "upstairs/downstairs" scenario, which merely leads to a rather obvious romance & an eye-rolling revelation at its conclusion.

In the end, these filmmakers no doubt meant for this to be a harmless bit of fun, but again, with their lacking comedic abilities, it simply never gets to that point. If you want to impress an audience with humor, you can't just aim as low as possible in the hope that something will hit. You have to put some time & effort into it to deliver humor that the audience won't expect (the preacher's wordplay being a great example, especially after all the jokes that fell flat prior to it). They may have had the best intentions with "Fackham Hall," but when it comes right to it, it just isn't funny, and that's what ultimately makes all the difference.

Video/Audio:

"Fackham Hall" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.35:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of excellent quality. The picture is beautifully sharp & clear throughout its entire 97-minute duration, perfectly highlighting the film's gorgeous production design & costumes. Likewise, the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue & music in outstanding quality. Overall, Bleecker Street has done a wonderful job in both departments for the film's Blu-ray debut.

Special Features:

Deleted Scenes (15 Sequences)

Conclusion:

Jim O'Hanlon's "Fackham Hall" wants so badly to be a charming comedic take on the classic upstairs/downstairs set-up, but sadly its five screenwriters make the unfortunate decision to utilize an approach that aims low & emphasizes quantity over quality, resulting in a comedy that ultimately ends up eliciting very few laughs as it goes about its cliched & forgettable romantic tale.

Score: 2.5/5

Now available on Blu-ray.

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