The last several weeks of the year are usually reserved for heavy dramas and blockbusters seeking awards attention. This year’s crop of films exemplifies that pattern. Hamnet explores how the grief caused by the death of William Shakespeare’s son inspired the author’s most famous tragedy. Sentimental Value untangles decades of thorny family relations between an estranged father and his emotionally distraught adult daughters. In Marty Supreme, Timothée Chalamet hustles and scams his way to the top of the table tennis charts, all while riddled with anxiety. Even a self-described comedy like Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On? examines a marriage in freefall and the midlife crisis that ensues for both partners.

This is where Fackham Hall (you’d better get used to that pun, because it’s said a lot in the film) makes its mark. From “the studio that watched the first two seasons of Downton Abbey” comes a film without lofty awards ambitions or a need to secure a placement on a bevy of critics’ best of the year lists. It’s not some sneaky meditation on the human condition, sowing social commentary within the laughter. No, it’s a silly and noodle-brained comedy whose only goal is to make you chuckle as many times as possible within its ninety-seven-minute runtime.

That’s a very backhanded way to describe a movie, implying that a film is lesser than another simply because of what it strives to be. It’s not the size of the target that matters; it’s how well you hit it. Many filmmakers will tell you that comedy is exponentially more difficult than it seems. You need to make a structurally consistent film with the same arcs and beats as any other story, all while delivering worthy jokes at a consistent rate. It takes a lot to conceive a funny joke, and expert precision to tell it just right. One half-second of fat on the edit, or a half-baked delivery, can have the best gag land with a thud.

All-star British comedian Jimmy Carr knows a thing or two about how to make people laugh. Making his screenwriting feature debut alongside co-writers Patrick Carr and The Dawson Bros. (Steve, Andrew, and Tim Inman), Carr has crafted a parody of upstairs-downstairs period dramas, such as Downton Abbey and Gosford Park, crossed with the laugh-a-minute comedies of yesteryear, like Airplane! and Monty Python. Every piece of signage is an opportunity for crude wordplay, such as the gate entrance to the titular estate displaying the famous Latin quote: “Incestus ad infinitum.”

Performing those acts of power consolidation are the Davenports, one of England’s most noble families. The Great Depression has made its way across the pond, and the Davenports have been besieged by tragedy. One by one, all four of their sons - John, Paul, George, and Ringo - have unexpectedly died. One drowned on the Titanic, the other crashed in the Hindenburg, and one was playing golf in a lightning storm. This has forced Lord (Damian Lewis) and Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston) to marry off their eldest daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), to a rich bachelor. Luckily, that man happens to be Poppy’s first cousin Archibald (Tom Felton).

At twenty-three years of age, youngest daughter Rose (Thomasin McKenzie) is a “tired and barren husk of a woman, with no hopes of finding a man to give her life worth.” That is, until she meets the new hall boy, Eric Noone (pronounced no-one, and played by Ben Radcliffe). It was love at first sight when she ran him over with her car, and at second sight when he watched her stuff her face with deviled eggs. They are star-crossed lovers, their romance forbidden by the rules of society, and the Davenports need to marry for money.

Most of the best bits are in the trailer. And yet, they were just as funny in the final product as they were in the advertisements, and there’s plenty of other chuckles to be had. We witness London’s oldest ever chimney sweep dying at the age of seven, and Rose ignites some passion between her and Eric by revealing that she’s reading “One Shade of Grey.” There are several instances of similar-sounding words being used for extended bits reminiscent of “Who's on First?”

Joining forces with the Liam Neeson-starring Naked Gun reboot from this summer, Fackham Hall is here to swing the comedy pendulum back into the realm of slapstick and dirty gags. Sure, it’s not going to win awards or become some cornerstone of the genre. But I think I can guess what the creators and fans of these films say to all those naysayers: Fuck 'em all.