First Hit: This film attempted to be significant in scope and ended up small and lacked being an engaging story.
I never watched any of this series on television as every preview just looked trite and uninteresting. Although I cannot speak for the series, the film was mostly dull and certainly wasn’t worth my time. I guess there’s a real group of people who feel different because there were two women in front of me, purchasing tickets, dressed up in costume from the era.
Most of the film revolves around how the Downton Abbey house staff dislikes being replaced by the royal team when the King and Queen of England (Simon Jones and Geraldine James respectively) come to spend a night at the house. For the staff, it is about personal pride in themselves and their abilities to serve the royals. Without much background I found this trite.
Then there is the discussion around who will get Downton Abbey. Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith) wants her grandchild to run the show after she’s gone. But unknown to her, her younger sister Maude (Imelda Staunton) had a child (Lucy Smith played by Tuppence Middleton) out of wedlock who is the rightful heir. That drama plays out in a couple of sarcastic and quippy conversations. My internal response to these scenes was that they were tired and “so what.”
The most exciting set of scenes were about how gay men had their own bawdy nightclub, and it was raided by the police. As being publicly gay in England was illegal at the time, it was interesting to see how the men handled it and how they were able to connect with each other given society’s norms.
Despite the grandeur of Downton Abbey in many of the long-range shots, I found the scenes and sets less engaging and somewhat drab. The whole story about a thieving seamstress had little value.
I don’t think any of the actors are worth a mention because the whole film felt flat, fell flat, and reaffirmed why I did not choose to watch the television series. Julian Fellowes wrote a tiresome screenplay that might interest a small segment of the population, but I couldn’t engage. I’m not sure even the fans of the television series would find this story of any interest. Michael Engler directed this tiresome story in a lackluster way.
Overall: Simply uninteresting.