---
title: "Sightseers: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/sightseers/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/sightseers"
critics_score: 74
critics_reviews: 24
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Sightseers (2012): what the critics said

Critics' score 74 from 24 reviews: 20 positive, 4 mixed, 0 negative.

Most critics welcome Sightseers as a sharply observed British black comedy, with praise clustering around Alice Lowe and Steve Oram’s convincing, deadpan performances. Their ordinary resentments and holiday enthusiasms make the violence funnier and more unsettling. The reviews also credit Ben Wheatley’s handling of romance, horror and social satire, while the English landscapes provide a striking contrast to the couple’s behaviour. Several find affection for the characters beneath the cruelty.

The spread runs from enthusiastic to mixed, with no outright negative verdicts. Reservations concern emotional depth, the film’s slightness and how long its central joke can last. Digital Spy enjoys the surprises while finding the couple emotionally underdeveloped; The AV Club is less persuaded, seeing a sketch stretched out through banal reactions to murder. Time Out likewise finds invention and strong performances, but wants the comedy and nastiness to go further.

## Screen Daily

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 23 May 2012. Festival review. 

Describes it as a blissful bit of dark, funny and bloody entertainment with visual panache and humour that should guarantee cult status. Notes the deliciously dark Englishness and the affectionate portrayal of the eccentric leads and their romance.

[Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/sightseers/5042588.article)

## Evening Standard

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 22 January 2013. 

Wheatley melds comedy and horror in an odd, funny British road movie about a murderous couple on a caravan holiday. The lead performances and social observation stand out as the chief pleasures.

[Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/sightseers-cert-15-88-mins-review-8371248.html)

## Slant Magazine — Jesse Cataldo

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 7 May 2013. 

The critic praises it as Wheatley's best film yet, a sardonic depiction of Britain masking darkness beneath strained politeness, highlighting the moral bankruptcy of characters and deft genre-swerving satire.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/sightseers/)

## Empire — Kim Newman

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 22 August 2012. 

A funny and horrible blend of Mike Leigh social observation and violent carnage, with strong performances from the leads as an odd couple on a killing spree. It serves as a black-comic state-of-the-nation address.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/sightseers-review/)

## RogerEbert.com — Sheila O'Malley

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 9 May 2013. 

The critic finds the film a darkly amusing black comedy about a resentful couple whose holiday turns murderous. She singles out the well-observed performances of the leads and the evocative English landscapes for praise.

[Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sightseers-2013)

## The Hollywood Reporter — Neil Young

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 25 May 2012. Festival review. 

The critic calls it the most consistently hilarious Brit-com in years, a pitch-black laugh-riot that cements Ben Wheatley's status as one of his generation's smartest filmmakers through witty genre play and strong performances from unknowns.

[Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/sightseers-cannes-review-329833/)

## Total Film — Matt Glasby

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 30 November 2012. 

Wheatley transports the lovers-on-the-run genre to a parochial British caravan holiday, with deadpan performances and tonal shifts creating a funny, sinister and moving film. The settings and dialogue are highlights.

[Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/sightseers-review/)

## IndieWire — James Rocchi

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 9 May 2013. 

The critic hails the film as a black-comedy holiday hoot, praising its assured blend of romance, violence, and humor as Wheatley finds his voice in a tale of serial killers in love.

[Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-ben-wheatleys-sightseers-or-natural-born-campers-is-a-black-comedy-holiday-hoot-98343/)

## Los Angeles Times — Betsy Sharkey

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 9 May 2013. 

The critic calls the film bloody good fun and Wheatley's drollest, driest take yet on murder as comedy. She singles out the central couple's wickedly funny relationship and the twisted charm of their accidental crimes.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-sightseers-review-20130510-story.html)

## The Independent — Ellen E Jones

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 28 November 2012. 

The film presents an anarchic, eerie vision of rural Britain through a caravanning couple's spree of killings. It blends black comedy with references to British horror traditions and road movies.

[Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/hei-fi/entertainment/not-such-a-green-and-pleasant-land-after-all-8363585.html)

## Variety — Peter Debruge

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 24 May 2012. Festival review. 

The critic praises the wicked little road-trip pic for its scabrous black humor and the ease with which the couple knocks off obnoxious characters. He notes its cult appeal following its Directors' Fortnight screening.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/2012/film/markets-festivals/sightseers-1117947631/)

## Film Comment — Graham Fuller

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 1 May 2013. 

The film pokes fun at the social limitations of its lumpen Midlander characters without sneering or patronizing them, turning their murderous road trip into a road movie-cum-black comedy that makes the viewer complicit in the violence while venting everyday frustrations.

[Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/review-sightseers-ben-wheatley/)

## Sight and Sound

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 30 November 2012. 

The critic highlights the film's distinctive deadpan black comedy style and the striking beauty of its widescreen landscape photography, which heightens the incongruity of the violence. It solidifies Wheatley's reputation as one of the most offbeat and unpredictable British directors.

[Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-sightseers)

## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 29 November 2012. 

The critic finds the film a macabre, violent black comedy of English manners that improves on second viewing. The standout element is the effortless, superb performances by co-writers and leads Steve Oram and Alice Lowe, which create a strange, creepy universe.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/nov/29/sightseers-review)

## Little White Lies — Adam Woodward

Rating 3/3/3. 29 November 2012. 

Praises the amusing double act of Lowe and Oram and the script's terrifically deadpan moments but criticizes the lack of emotional engagement with the central couple and the senselessness of the killings. Suggests it might have worked better as a mini-series.

[Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/sightseers)

## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis

Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 9 May 2013. 

The critic describes the film as a nasty, brutish and short woozy comedy about two British eccentrics on a murderous caravan trip. She notes the deadpan style but finds the joke overextended.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/movies/sightseers-with-alice-lowe-and-steve-oram.html)

## Time Out — Tom Huddleston

Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 15 May 2012. 

Calls it an amusing, inventive but decidedly slight film that never quite settles into a comfortable style, being neither funny enough nor nasty enough. Praises the naturalistic performances and bleak mood but notes it is a minor work from a major director.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/sightseers)

## The AV Club — Ben Kenigsberg

Rating C-. 9 May 2013. 

The critic finds the humor limited and the film sketch-like, faulting its reliance on the single joke of banal reactions to murder without sufficient build-up or surprises, though noting its appeal in the UK.

[Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/sightseers-1798176739)

## Den of Geek — Simon Brew

Rating 4/5. 26 November 2012. 

Ben Wheatley delivers one of the funniest films of the year with convincing central performances from Alice Lowe and Steve Oram as the believable, trivia-obsessed couple whose caravan holiday turns darkly comic and violent; it is assured, focused filmmaking that succeeds thanks to the central pairing.

[Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/sightseers-review/)

## Digital Spy — Emma Dibdin

Rating 4/5. 19 October 2012. Festival review. 

Wheatley's follow-up to Kill List is a coal-black absurdist romp that is tremendously enjoyable and consistently surprising as a tragicomedy, even if its central couple lacks emotional depth and the film feels lightweight overall.

[Read the review](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/bfi-london-film-festival/a431576/sightseers-review-bfi-london-film-festival-2012/)

## Eye for Film — Neil Mitchell

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 18 November 2012. 

The film is a hilariously disturbing black comedy that stands on its own as an outrageous variation on familiar British works. The critic singles out the lead characters Chris and Tina for making their savage violence both funnier and more shocking due to their seeming ordinariness.

[Read the review](http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/sightseers-2012-film-review-by-neil-mitchell)

## The Skinny — Chris Fyvie

Rating 4/5. 26 November 2012. 

Wheatley's absurdist film plays like a trainspotters' Badlands with great wit, sharp social satire and an affectionate ode to British heritage holidays; it delivers tar-black comedy and gruesomeness alongside smartly drawn characters and gorgeous shots.

[Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/sightseers)

## The Wrap

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 9 May 2013. 

The critic describes it as a nasty but very funny and exceedingly British black comedy about a couple's homicidal driving holiday. They single out the pitch-perfect performances by the two leads for making the characters both creepy and amusing.

[Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/sightseers-review-chris-tinas-excellent-albeit-homicidal-adventure-90491/)

## Collider — Matt Goldberg

Rating B. 11 May 2013. Festival review. 

The critic highlights Wheatley's return to pitch-black comedy with a story of a dysfunctional couple whose caravan holiday descends into serial killing, emphasizing how paranoia and resentment turn ordinary people grotesque and comic. He singles out the film's unflinching brutality and its mirror to human inadequacy as sources of both cringe and laughter.

[Read the review](https://collider.com/sightseers-movie-review/)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/sightseers.md