Most critics agree on who this is for: people who know the earlier View Askew films by heart. Nearly every review calls it a nostalgia trip built from cameos, meta jokes and self-mockery, and the argument is only over whether that is a pleasure or a problem. Several critics single out the father-daughter thread and an emotional payoff they did not see coming, and a few of the stunt-cast cameos are credited with landing.
The spread is wide, from a failing grade to four stars out of five. Reservations centre on the jokes, which are called flat, recycled and crude, and on a thin road-trip premise that drags. The AV Club argues Smith’s filmmaking has not matured in more than two decades, and RogerEbert.com calls it his most unfocused fan service. NME dissents most sharply, finding it better than snobbish critics allow. The two reviews that arrived later in November are noticeably warmer than the opening-day notices.