Director: Ben Wheatley
Stars: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram
Chris (Oram) wants to take his new girlfriend Tina (Lowe) on a caravan holiday. At first she has to escape her overbearing mother, but once they’re on their way the holiday is nice. Until it takes a turn for the worst…
Sightseers is billed as a black comedy but the comedy is barely there. There are some humorous moments but they’re buried in a dull, meandering film about two vile people who kill people on a whim and steal dogs. I don’t necessarily need all my protagonists to be likeable and heroic, but I think there have to be some redeeming features. I just couldn’t work up any sympathy or empathy for these characters so although the film was following them I wanted them to fail, yet the comeuppance never happened.
There was no context to the murders, they were treated as though they didn’t matter at all and I found this to be an extremely cynical position to take. There was no tension, no threat, they simply continued on their journey while squabbling. If there was more humor then perhaps it would have been so bad, but the film expects us to love the offbeat and quirky nature of these characters and it doesn’t work like that.
I would have enjoyed it more if there had been a resolution and if there had been consequences shown to their behavior. As it is I felt like I wasted my time while watching it, and I’m struggling to think of the appeal of this movie. I can’t recommend this at all, the only thing I’d recommend is that you avoid it.
