Studio: Decal Bleecker
Release Date: 2/20/2026
Rating: R
Film Grade: C
The Story: For generations, the Davenport’s have lived in Fackham Hall, a fully appointed manor with a full staff of servants. It’s now the 1930s, and money problems have put their ownership at risk. Because there are no male heirs, youngest daughter Poppy has pledged her hand to Cousin Archibald, next in the line of succession. But things are not that straightforward, as events are about to take a series of unexpected twists.
My Take: English period pieces have been surprisingly popular over the past decade. The movie takes all of those key ingredients and blends them with a series of hit and miss jokes. On the serious side, you’ve got a posh upcoming wedding, a mystery, a rogue stranger with a shady past, clear class differences, elaborate staging and costuming, all combined with plot elements that could have been pulled from light romantic tales of old.
It’s really the movie’s attempts at comedy where things become a bit muddled. The jokes are largely sophomoric; don’t expect any Monty Python level cleverness. While there are some instances of crafty word play, the movie would rather dwell on easy, crude, low-brow jokes. One might think that the contrast of a period piece with modern style humor might provide a bevy of gags, but it’s not the case. There are a number of genuine laugh-out-loud moments, but for each of those, there are two or three others that fall flat, mostly because of how shallow and obvious they are. For example, there’s a large sign above the gateway entrance, proclaiming it Fackham Hall with a small inscription below, “INCESTUS AD INFINITUM.” Subtle, eh? Just in case you didn’t get it, the film pauses on it as an establishing shot numerous times.
The comedic styling is more akin to the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker films than a classic French farce, but with fewer gags. While not all of the bits of a ZAZ movie are winners, they’re quickly on to the next one, only pausing long enough for the audience to barely finish laughing. In contrast, Fackham Hall has such a large number of characters and such a winding plot that there isn’t much room left for jokes. Most of the gags that are used don’t take full advantage of the setting. And those that due are built upon the most obvious of pretenses, mocking things in the most superficial way possible.
The cast gives varied levels of performances, but most lean towards the overly broad side of things, matching the light styling of the script. Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit, Last Night in Soho) is one of the outliers here, giving spinster sister Rose a sweet earnestness that sets her apart from the rest of the cast. Likewise, Ben Radcliffe plays the role of Eric with a wry and charming demeanor. Damian Lewis gives patriarch Lord Davenport a clueless, befuddled, and entitled air, generating little engagement with the audience. Similarly, Katherine Waterston’s performance as Lady Davenport offers little in the way of insight or interest. Tom Felton struck me as a young version of Jonathan Pryce with his facial expressions and demeanor, but the role is largely underdeveloped and heavily used for tired plot reasons.
The movie almost works best as a pure romance-style drama. Some of the themes and story elements could be drawn from a mixture of late 19th and early 20th century literature. The plot isn’t wildly absurd enough to generate a true feeling of parody, with non sequiturs substituting for wry twists. It almost feels like the team of five writers were of vastly different minds when putting all of this together.
Visuals: The film features a sumptuous look, befitting the aristocratic setting of the film. A variety of colors are used throughout the different scenes, with rich wood tones in interior shots and golden hues for both outdoor and indoor scenes. It’s a lovely looking picture, with the camera picking up lots of detail.
Audio: The DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix is what one would expect for this type of film. While there are some ambient cues and panning effects, it’s heavily focused on dialog, which is easy to hear but some may struggle with the occasionally strong accent. There are some brief moments of bass to grab the audience’s attention.
The musical score is almost unrelentingly upbeat with soaring strings and a catchy romantic refrain. There are a few songs and musical numbers that are reminiscent of what you might find in a Python film.
Special Features: The disc includes 15(!) deleted scenes and I agree with most of them being cut from the film. Only one stands out that could have been funny and also shown character development, by using a misunderstanding of the words manors and manners. Others would have added crude sex jokes for a couple of side characters that would have only further diluted the story.
Final Verdict: Comedy films have been rare and largely ineffective in the past decade, so this was a welcome entry. It wisely targets a genre that hasn’t been fully explored making it ripe for some good-natured fun but plays far too broadly to fully exploit the setting. There are some genuine laughs to be found here, but one wonders how many lost opportunities were left behind in favor of targeting a general audience. I’ll also point out that I have not been watching any of the recent examples of the genre it’s mocking, so my perspective is largely built on classical literature and the movies based on them. Your personal perspective of the underlying material may be different.
Recommended for comedy fans that are looking for something to fill the void but think of it more along the lines of a fast-food burger rather than a quality sit-down meal. If you’re undecided, check out the trailer, but realize it gives away some of the plot and features most of the best gags.
Fun Fact: British comedian Jimmy Carr not only plays the film’s vicar, who has an unfortunate inability to pause correctly after periods, but also came up with the story along with his brother, Patrick.
My Review System:JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
Oppo BDP-93
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup
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