Sightseers

In somewhat of a departure from his previous film – the horror thriller Kill List – Ben Wheatley's new film is a dark and rather twisted black comedy set around the British institution of the caravan holiday. I caught this film at a preview screening a few days ago and I have to say that I didn't have any idea what to expect (which was quite a refreshing change). I didn't know if I'd find it funny, hate it or be rather underwhelmed by it. Turns out, it was all of the above...

Written by the stars of the film, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, Sightseers sees boyfriend and girlfriend Chris and Tina get away from their unsatisfying lives and head to the Lake District on a caravanning holiday to take in some of the 'world-famous' attractions such as the Pencil Museum. However, things soon take a shocking and unexpected turn and the couple quickly lose control of their idyllic holiday. Now, the first thing to say is that the opening fifteen minutes are quite funny as the balance between awkward humour and characterisation was nicely maintained.

However, once Chris and Tina had set off on their holiday, caravan in tow, something terrible happens at the most unexpected of places: a tram museum. Now, without giving too much away, I'll just say that once this plot point had happened, I became totally disenchanted with the rest of the film (which was kind of a big deal seeing as we were less than a quarter of the way through the 88 minute running time). I appreciate that, if you do see this film, you may argue that this event was necessary to set up the tone of the rest of the film but for me, it was the same as watching The X Factor: slightly bemusing and thoroughly irritating.

Tina and Chris are the text book example of anti-heroes and the performances from Lowe and Oram were very naturalistic and convincing. This was partly due to some solid direction from Wheatley whom, I think, we'll be hearing a lot more from in the future. The chemistry between the naïve Tina and the initially easy-going Chris was confidently executed but in the end, I just became annoyed with the characters whose actions became rather grating. Few of the scenes were realistic and even fewer were rip-roaringly funny. Maybe I'm missing the point but I felt cheated by the whole thing. The film felt rather uneven and misjudged: the comedy wasn't funny enough and the violence didn't sit well with the comedic intentions: rather disappointing for a black comedy.

Some have praised the ordinariness of the characters which makes their actions so extraordinarily amusing and refreshing for a road-trip killer film. I, on the other hand, just found the whole thing irritatingly unbelievable and fatally un-funny. The premise of British suburban middle-class reservedness being shattered in the most violent way possible promised much but, ultimately, Sightseers not funny enough and is something of a washout. And an ill-judged washout at that. 

Clapperboard Rating: * *

Sightseers is released nationwide on 30th November