By M. Faust
(Image above: “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,” Photo by Rory Mulvey – © 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

A movie sequel can be like running into an old friend you haven’t seen in a long time. After hashing over old times, you may walk away wondering what you ever saw in that person in the first place. Two new sequels in theaters this week pleasantly evoke happy memories, but they certainly don’t produce any new ones. 

The third theatrical sequel to Downton Abbey, the hugely popular British television series that ran from 2010 to 2015, comes with the unlikely subtitle The Grand Finale, as if we didn’t understand that series are never over until people stop paying to see them. Remember 2022’s Jurassic World Dominion, promoted as “The epic conclusion of the Jurassic era?” It took them less than three years to get a new one into theaters, which mean it must have already been in development as audiences were snoring through the “epic conclusion.” 

Like the previous theatrical Downtons, this film plays like a season of the series condensed into two hours. All of the original cast returns, with the exceptions of the late Dame Maggie Smith and Matthew Goode, whose character Henry married Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) in the last series but was barely seen in either of the films. 

Henry has in fact divorced Mary, providing one of the film’s two subplots: How ever will she be able to hold her head up in public under the stigma of a failed marriage? Will the entire family share in her shame? I’m willing to take series creator Julian Fellowes’ word for it that divorce was a shameful thing n 1930, at least among the British gentry, but he never makes us feel it, and in best television fashion it is eventually brushed aside. 

Ditto subplot number two, involving the brother (newcomer Paul Giamatti) of Cora, Countess of Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern). Since the death of their mother, he has lost the family fortune in bad investments. He has come to Downton with his hat in hand at a bad time, as the Crawley family is already finding it difficult in the modern era to maintain the estate they inherited. 

The death of this way of life is what fans of the show (I admit to being one) are likely to be expecting from that portentous title. At the risk of ruining any suspense for you, this Grand Finale is neither final nor all that grand. Mary takes over control of Downton and her parents move into the house vacated by the late Dowager, but there’s no reason why the story couldn’t continue if anyone wanted it to. The biggest thing standing in the way — and at this point probably the major one — is the aging of the cast. But there’s no reason why a sequel focusing on Mary couldn’t be developed (as a fan of Dockery’s ridiculously plummy accent and drily witty line readings, I’d watch it). And why not a prequel, or even a reboot? Surely there’s a new generation of British actors looking to make their marks. 

The real problem with all of the Downton films is that there are too many characters and not enough time to give each their due. Trying to cram into two hours what Fellowes used to do with over eight one-hour episodes is an unenviable task, and it’s no wonder that the result feels rushed, even perfunctory. 

Thre’s no question that aging out will rule out any further sequels to the much-loved 1984 “mockumentary” This is Spinal Tap. The four primary players — Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Rob Reiner — are all in their 78^th years, and they look it. Given that, it’s a disappointment that Spinal Tap II: The End Continues does so little to acknowledge that fact. I was genuinely expecting a moment when one of the band members ripped off his preposterous wig to express his exasperation with being eternally expected to look the way he did in his 20s. (How many times have you watched a video of some superannuated ’60s rocker wishing they would do that?) 

No such luck. Over 41 years since the original film, the four creators (Reiner is the credited director, all four wrote the script) don’t seem to have found any real justification for a sequel, other than that they were able to find financing and were all otherwise unemployed. What plot there is involves the band member’s forced reunion, 15 years after breaking up, to satisfy an old contract. There’s a market for them again because of a viral video of a big star performing one of their songs. (It’s the best joke in the movie.) 

As with the first film, which was largely improvised, the plot is just an excuse to string together a series of gags. Of these, there are not nearly enough, or at least they’re not funny enough. I liked bassist Derek Small’s post-Tap performance piece, “Hell Toupee.” And there’s a lovely little moment, not funny at all, when Guest, McKean and Shearer harmonize on an English folk song, as if to show that they can still do it. 

But way too much of what’s here just regurgitates bits from the original film. I don’t think there are any new songs, and while Elton John proves an apt guest to interpret “Stonehenge,” the final big concert makes you wonder if anyone involved remembers that the whole thing was originally a parody.