
What do you need to know beyond that? Lady Mary ( Michelle Dockery) is still worried that Downton can't sustain itself in a more frugal time that frowns on grand displays of wealth. It really works. It's goodhearted and clever, and it knows when to end. The viewer barely gets to dip a pinky toe into situations that an hour-long drama would soak in. The approach is reminiscent of a light comedy from old Hollywood. This is far from a perfect film-it feels a bit rushed and thin, and a couple of big moments are tossed off. As in the recent "Deadwood" wrap-up feature, there's enough story for another season of the series, most of it articulated in quite brief scenes (some lasting as little as 15 seconds). In the the middle of the night, they go out in pouring rain to arrange metal chairs for townspeople who are supposed to gather the following morning to watch the arrival of King George V and Queen Mary, who are scheduled to dine at Downton. In "Downton Abbey" the movie, roughly four dozen major and minor characters, constituting both nobility and servants, bustle about the screen for two hours, planning and executing grand schemes and dropping juicy bits of gossip, but mostly taking care of the little details: arranging plates, utensils and stemware fixing a damaged boiler completely altering a dress in a few hours.
DOWNTON ABBEY MOVIE MOVIE
But the movie omits the Method masochism and "eat this bowl of chaff, it's good for you" bombast that has increasingly become synonymous with Hollywood's Oscar bait. Said adults inhabit a tale set in something resembling reality, with banquets, dances, familial intrigue, gown fittings, chaste flirtations, declarations of love, and expertly timed reaction shots of characters silently disapproving of other characters. Finally, the rating is for the kinds of viewers who will, I suspect, turn this movie into an unexpected smash: those who might not feel obligated to leave their homes to watch blockbusters featuring dinosaurs, robots, superheroes, or Jedi knights, but will travel some distance to see a film in which well-dressed, reasonably thoughtful adults do and say grownup things.
