Most critics respond warmly to An Affair to Remember, with praise centred on Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr’s performances and the romance’s balance of wit and sentiment. The favourable reviews find the pair’s restrained comic chemistry persuasive, allowing the tender moments to land without losing the sophisticated humour. McCarey’s light touch also earns approval, particularly for the way comedy gives way to melodrama.
The spread is fairly wide, though none of the reviews is wholly negative: pacing, sentimentality and the later story account for most reservations. Judgements of the filmmaking differ, with Slant Magazine praising expressive widescreen imagery while The AV Club finds the direction dated and utilitarian. Empire questions both leads’ dramatic effectiveness but still responds to the finale’s romance; The New Yorker is less forgiving, admiring the tender, funny shipboard courtship before finding the later developments increasingly ridiculous and sanitised.