The Incomer Feature Scores
Explore all 48 feature scores for The Incomer, organized into pros and cons.
Scores by Feature
Summary
48 reviewed features-
Very positive 4.5-5.026 (54%)
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Positive 3.5-4.412 (25%)
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Neutral 2.5-3.49 (19%)
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Negative 1.5-2.41 (2%)
Pros
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The ensemble is a major strength: the three leads repeatedly make the oddball material feel committed, funny, and emotionally grounded. Even more skeptical takes tend to praise the cast.
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The Scottish setting is photographed with striking natural beauty, from verdant landscapes and cold coastlines to intimate natural-light interiors. Even negative takes regularly single out the imagery.
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The story is broadly seen as a sweet, strange fable about isolation, grief, and connection. Its emotional sincerity wins over many viewers even when the plot follows familiar paths.
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The film’s strongest message concerns fear of change, inherited stories, self-acceptance, and the need for connection. Even mixed reactions often find that hopeful core worthwhile.
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Most responses find the film easy to enjoy, watchable, and warmly entertaining, with a handful of detractors who never connect with its style. Its strongest entertainment value comes from the cast and oddball comedy.
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The hand-drawn animation is consistently praised for turning the island’s folklore into a storybook world. Several responses wanted even more of it.
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Beneath the silliness, the film often lands as tender and unexpectedly moving, especially around grief, loneliness, and human connection. A few takes find the emotional foundation too light for the darker turns.
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The central trio’s rapport is one of the film’s safest strengths, with lively banter and convincing warmth. The romantic pairing is less consistently persuasive than the broader group dynamic.
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Natural color, rugged scenery, animation, and carefully composed interiors create a vivid storybook look without making the island feel glossy or artificial.
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Comedy is the film’s most polarizing trait. Many find the deadpan, physical, culture-clash absurdity hilarious, while others call the jokes repetitive, juvenile, or overly quirky.
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Suspense works in bursts, especially cliffside danger and early confrontations, and often pairs well with comedy. The bureaucratic threat itself is less consistently urgent.
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The island feels like its own peculiar ecosystem, built from folklore, rituals, geography, and visual contrast with the mainland. That specificity is central to the film’s distinctive identity.
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Themes of loneliness, inherited fear, belonging, grief, and change give the comedy real substance. Some takes find those ideas underexplored or too surface-level, but the emotional intent is consistently clear.
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Paxton’s direction is widely admired for visual control, straight-faced handling of absurdity, and gentle fable-like texture. Some see first-feature growing pains and occasional over-stylization.
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Its eccentric fairy-tale identity feels genuinely singular to some, while others see familiar indie-comedy influences beneath the surface. The premise feels fresher than every thematic or comic beat.
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As an adult folk-comedy fable, the film is distinctive and often charming, though its aggressively quaint side can overwhelm viewers resistant to twee humor.
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The creature makeup and prosthetics give the Fin Man a memorable, menacing seal-like appearance and are singled out as impressive craft work.
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The ending generally restores the film’s emotional footing, with self-acceptance and earned change landing well. A few reactions note a slight late decline before the final payoff.
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The film’s Scottish identity comes through in its locations, folklore, talent, and satire of local bureaucracy. Its cultural specificity helps ground an otherwise fanciful story.
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Its eccentricity is the dividing line: some see broad, crowd-pleasing charm, while others find the twee, overt weirdness alienating. Viewers already fond of offbeat indie comedy are the clearest fit.
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The screenplay earns praise for emotional grounding, character affection, and oddball consistency, but repetition and underdeveloped characters expose weaknesses in the longer format.
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Isla and the sibling bond receive meaningful emotional layering, but Daniel and especially Sandy can feel underdeveloped in weaker stretches. The character work is strongest when loneliness and changing relationships take precedence over quirks.
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Editing choices are used effectively for comic timing and tension, especially concise cuts and focal-length-driven sequences. The craft is stronger than the screenplay’s repetitive stretches.
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The score is highly taste-dependent. Its folk-inflected, quirky textures can deepen the island atmosphere, but the plucky strings and horns sometimes feel overly insistent.
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The handmade bird ritual costumes are a standout craft element, giving the siblings’ folklore a memorable physical identity.
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Gleeson’s lead comic work is a highlight, with his committed awkwardness and willingness to join the islanders’ rituals making Daniel especially watchable.
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The practical-effects work is praised as a tactile part of the film’s handmade folklore aesthetic.
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The island cottage is a particularly strong piece of production design, feeling lived-in and organically tied to the siblings’ isolated life.
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Natural wind, birds, and crashing water are captured vividly, giving the island an elemental presence that often works better than the busier musical cues.
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The brooding, unnerving soundtrack is an important part of the film’s sensory identity, adding a darker current beneath the comedy.
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The practical and creature effects fit the film’s handmade folktale aesthetic and are praised as a strong craft element.
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The supporting cast is described as strong, adding sharp energy around the central trio without becoming the main attraction.
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The late action works best when physical comedy and genuine emotion share the same scene, giving the finale energy without abandoning the film’s eccentric tone.
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The siblings’ verbal sparring is sharp and absurd while remaining emotionally sincere, helping the strange behavior feel internally believable.
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The unlikely bond between Daniel and the siblings is handled with genuine affection, making companionship and chosen connection feel central rather than incidental.
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Scare beats work best as brief pressure points before the comedy releases the tension, letting the film flirt with folk horror without becoming a full horror experience.
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The film is explicitly recommended as worth seeing, with its humor and feel-good quality supporting a positive sense of ticket value.
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The romance is divisive: Isla’s tentative awakening can be touching and funny, but the love-triangle mechanics are also called thin and unconvincing.
Cons
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At 102 minutes, the film feels overextended to some, with repeated beats and an elongated climax making a tighter cut seem preferable.
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The fairy-tale framing gives the story license to bend reality, but some gags and the mechanics of decades-long island survival strain credibility even within that mode.
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The route from hostility to connection is often predictable and follows familiar outsider-story beats. The execution, performances, and folklore details are what keep that familiar structure engaging.
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Momentum is uneven: several responses flag repetition, overlong detours, or a loss of steam after the first hour. Others find the comic action brisk enough to keep the film moving.
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The father’s inherited rules give the siblings’ isolation emotional weight, but the parental trauma beneath those rules is not explored as deeply as it could be.
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A few logistical details around the authorities’ delayed response do not add up cleanly, creating small gaps in an otherwise easy-to-follow setup.
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Violence is mostly stylized and comic, but the sudden third-act escalation can feel disjointed from the warmer tone rather than satisfyingly intense.
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The darker dramatic material can feel mismatched with the lighter comedy, particularly when supporting subplots push the film toward a more extreme register.
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The recurring sex-toy gag is a clear taste test: it can play as absurdly funny or as another example of the film pushing its cutesy raunch too hard.
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The film walks a difficult line between whimsy, tenderness, and darker folklore. At its best the balance feels controlled; at its weakest, violence and sincere trauma arrive too abruptly beside the twee comedy.
Cast & Creators
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IslaRankin is the most consistently singled-out performer, grounding Isla’s ferocity with vulnerability, yearning, and emotional pain. Her commitment helps the film’s strangest material feel human rather than merely quirky.
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DanielGleeson is repeatedly praised for making Daniel’s awkwardness warm and funny, with strong comic timing, disarming reactions, and easy chemistry with the islanders. Even harsh takes often treat him as a saving grace.
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SandyO’Rourke turns Sandy into a lovable, volatile man-child without losing the character’s sadness or curiosity. His deadpan timing and ability to shift from sweetness to danger make him a frequent scene-stealer.
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WriterPaxton earns strong praise for visual control, straight-faced absurdity, and emotional warmth, though his screenplay and feature-length pacing draw more criticism. The debut feels distinctive even when its quirkiness or structure overreaches.
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CinematographerGolan’s cinematography is a standout, using natural light, vivid greens, rugged coastlines, and careful framing to make the island both inviting and isolating.
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RozGomez brings pointed, icy, and forceful energy to Roz, helping the mainland bureaucracy register as a comic and institutional counterweight to the islanders.
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CallumElliott’s survivalist supporting turn is treated as a sharp comic jolt, with his exaggerated intensity producing some of the film’s biggest secondary-character laughs.
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Fin ManHannah’s Fin Man is praised for an unsettling, menacing stillness that gives the folklore a darker edge and makes the creature feel tied to Isla’s grief.
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Costume DesignerBlenkinsop’s ritual bird costumes are singled out as incredible, giving the siblings’ homemade mythology a vivid and memorable physical form.
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ComposerKingston’s score is praised for its quirky, discordant blend of folk color and odd textures that mirrors the film’s eccentric characters.