The movie gained mixed reviews from critics and holds a 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Movie critic Roger Ebert said, "There are so many good things in "Random Hearts", but they're side by side instead of one after the other. They exist in the same film, but they don't add up to the result of the film. Actually, the film has no result—just an ending, leaving us with all of those fine pieces, still waiting to come together. If this were a screenplay and not the final product, you could see how with one more rewrite, it might all fall into place."