Most critics like it, and the praise clusters on the cast and the writing. Variety and Roger Ebert are the warmest, admiring the confident direction and a script that keeps the sweetness of the 1941 original while adding sharper digs at greed and corporate life. The New York Times finds considerable charm and a marvellous cast even where it sees no great style, and several reviews single out the supporting players, Charles Grodin and Dyan Cannon in particular, as the reliable pleasures.
The reservations are about the script and the tone. Time Out is the lone outright dissenter, calling it a soggy, uncertain remake with a thin script, and faulting the pacing and Julie Christie’s comic timing. Collider is mixed, finding it mostly entertaining on charisma alone but awkward in its swing between broad comedy and sentiment. The spread is wide, from warm to hostile, and the later reviews are cooler than those written on release.