House of lords is full of majesty
DOWNTON ABBEY ★★★★ (Cert PG, 122mins)
JULIAN Fellowes has stirred even more characters into the pot for a beautifully mounted film version of his period soap opera.
But while the costumes are a little more spicy, the writer/producer has resisted temptation to overcook the drama. Like one of Mrs Patmore’s roast dinners, this is comfort food made of heart-warmingly familiar ingredients – gentle comedy, mild intrigue and a fizz of romance.
There’s a reason this isn’t Downton Abbey:The Movie.The production values are a little higher but this standalone episode would feel just at home on Christmas Day TV.
The film begins in 1927 when a letter from Buckingham Palace arrives at Downton. Hugh Bonneville’s Earl Of Grantham appears to be his unflappable old self as he reads of the upcoming visit of King GeorgeV (Simon Jones) and Queen Mary (Geraldine James).
But others don’t take it quite so stoically. “Two weeks to get ready, golly,” says the now-married Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) when her sister Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) telephones her with the news.
The first problem arises when Lady Mary, now sporting a sharper 1920s bob, takes it upon herself to reinstate the old butler. Carson (Jim Carter) almost bursts with pride but his successor Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier) is fuming.
Then Carter’s nose gets knocked out of joint when the King’s butler (David Haig) arrives and announces he will take over his duties. Following the arrival of snooty royal servants, Downton’s servants hatch a preposterous plan.
The visit also gets former chauffeur Tom Branson into a pickle when his republican sympathies catch the interest of a mysterious stranger (Stephen Campbell Moore).
Intrigue is meat and drink to sharp-tongued matriarch Dowager Countess Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith).When she learns that her cousin Lady Maud Bagshaw (Imelda Staunton) will be accompanying the Queen as one of ladies in waiting, she plots a way to play an old falling-out to her advantage.
The royal visit gives Michael Engler, who directed episodes of the series, a couple of stabs at big-screen spectacle with a royal parade and a lavish ball. But Violet is still the heart and soul of the drama. Her touching final scene with Lady Mary is a fitting end to this much-loved saga.
strippers who became a well-oiled gang of criminals.
The film feels most revolutionary in its opening act. It’s 2007 and the girls at New York’s Scores club are drowning in dollar bills thrown at them by richWall Street bankers.
Crazy Rich Asians heroine ConstanceWu gets the lead role as Destiny, a young stripper working to pay off her grandmother’s debts.
But as soon as Jennifer Lopez takes to the stage as old-hand Ramona, poor Wu gets edged out of the limelight. Looking remarkably fit at 50, Lopez owns the pole with an astonishingly acrobatic routine.
Sadly, the film begins to run out of steam when the crime plot kicks in.The financial crash of 2008 hits the club so Ramona, Destiny and two other girls go fishing in New York bars.
After finding a rich man (you can spot them by their shoes), they drug him, take him to the club and empty his bank account.The men are too embarrassed to call the police.
The film presents the girls are modern-day Robin Hoods but, as they are splurging their ill-gotten gains on garish handbags and fur coats, they don’t quite work as heroines.
With no one to root for, the film dissolves into repetitive scenes of champagne corks popping, girls grinding and men passing out.