The reviews lean towards qualified enjoyment, with most critics finding enough laughs to forgive the lightweight material. Praise centres on Hugh Grant’s awkward Englishman drawn into Mafia life, particularly his attempts to copy mobster mannerisms and his fish-out-of-water comic set pieces. The familiar gangster conventions provide useful comic material, while James Caan and the supporting mobster actors also earn approval for making the predicament entertaining.
Reservations concern uneven jokes and how much the film depends on Grant: Total Film finds the pacing slack and the other characters underdeveloped. Jeanne Tripplehorn divides opinion, with The Guardian finding her less effective, while Eye for Film praises her chemistry with Grant. The spread runs from warm approval to mild disappointment rather than outright rejection; Eye for Film offers the strongest reservations, finding occasional hilarity but less sophistication than it wants from the situation comedy.