Most critics respond warmly to Eating Raoul, with praise clustering around its straight-faced handling of sex, food and murder. The reviews find Paul Bartel’s restrained comic approach well suited to the outrageous premise: a prim couple financing their restaurant dream through killing. His prissy performance, the cast’s charm and the contrast between sick jokes and gentle sitcom manners draw approval, while the satire of middle-class conformity and Southern California sexual culture gives the comedy further bite.
The spread is fairly narrow, with the main difference concerning how much comic energy that restraint supplies. Empire finds the sick gags laugh-out-loud funny, while The New York Times values a flat, pop-art style that remains gently amusing rather than riotous. RogerEbert.com supplies the sole mixed assessment: it finds the film mostly clever and funny, but too laid-back and whimsical to push its outrageous material far enough.