Downton Abbey, the Movie

 First, let me say that I am a Downton Abbey fan.

 Like Tony Stark says of Happy Hogan "That's his show, he thinks it's elegant" (Also - just to show you how much of a Downton Abbey fan I really am -  the episode of Downton Abbey which appears in Iron Man 3 when Tony says that is after the one which appears when Happy wakes up.)

 So, it's probably surprising that it's taken me this long to get around to watching the Downton Abbey movie. Well, the simple reason is that I'm the only Downton Abbey fan in my house, sadly, so I haven't much chance (Also, I've been sick. :) ) but finally I've watched it.

 I loved it. 

 Let me say, if you are not a Downton Abbey fan, you probably won't. It isn't the kind of movie which introduces the characters and the story. If you don't already know and love them, you won't get it and you probably won't care. The movie is, quite simply, a letter to fans like me... to people who do love that strange rambling house and it's cast of strange, often pompous but charming characters. More, I think it is the "happily ever after" from the series. 

 A reviewer, who I think was not a fan, apparently wrote of it: "What the film lacks is any sense of real jeopardy. As we found out from the trailer, the big plot-line is this: the King and Queen are coming to dinner and Downton must be made perfect! But that simple story is stretched out to a full two hours of incredibly low-stakes, predictable drama with an overabundance of sub-plots". 

 What this reviewer fails to understand that, far from being a condemnation of the movie this is praise. This isn't a story of high stakes, of drama and tension. It's the story of our beloved characters having their happily ever after.

 It is, in a word, elegant.