The reviews lean mixed, with praise clustering around Christopher Reeve, the Smallville scenes and individual comic sequences rather than the film as a whole. Reeve’s handling of the dual role remains a strength even for detractors, while the relationship between Clark Kent and Annette O’Toole’s character supplies welcome warmth. The opening slapstick also earns approval from otherwise opposed reviews, suggesting that the comedy works better in particular passages than across the full film.
The spread is wide, and the main divide concerns the lighter tone. The Hollywood Reporter welcomes Richard Lester’s brisk direction and finds an energetic audience-pleaser. Time Out admires the satire and precisely timed slapstick. Less favourable reviews find the broad humour overdone, Richard Pryor poorly used, and the drama short of its predecessors’ wonder and scope. Two of the eight reviews lack accessible text, so their specific reasoning cannot be established.