Most critics like Bad Sisters a good deal, and several call it among Sharon Horgan’s best work. The praise gathers around the writing, which most find sharp and well paced, and around the five sisters, whose chemistry and believable family dynamics are the thing nearly every review singles out. Critics enjoy the way it runs a murder mystery and a farce side by side, and most find the mixture of pain and comedy handled with heart rather than cruelty.
The reservations are about the thriller half. A few reviews find the crime plot thinner than the family material, leaning on coincidence or on familiar genre habits. The Telegraph goes furthest, arguing that the generic crime drama dilutes Horgan’s comedy, and The Hollywood Reporter finds it easy to watch but too empty to satisfy. The Times thinks the villain overly cartoonish. The spread is wide, from mixed to warm, with no one dismissing it outright.