 A brief mentioning of the film by the "Chicago Reader" described it as "gritty" and remarked on the frankness of the comments made by the hustlers.The film has received condemnation in the pages of the "Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work", with "101 Rent Boys" labeled in the book's first volume as being "an exploitative look" at the subject rather than an honest one.The book asserted that the overall style of the film gets set up in such a way as to "reduce the men to parodies".