The "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" praised the film as a modern take on contemporary life, describing it as "so human, so free from pretense and so provocatively real". According to Borzage biographer Hervé Dumont, the film surprised contemporary critics as it was "stripped of all conventional ingredients—love triangles, jealousy, sex appeal or crimes—but buoyed by the cheerful exuberance that apparently effortlessly metamorphoses a mixture of little nothings into a gem of subtlety and charm". Dumont notes that Borzage deftly circumvented anything that could be considered provocative and instead brought out the humor and sentimentality of the relationship between the main characters. Reid calls the result both realistic and romantic. A "Los Angeles Times" review credits Borzage as "the dominant force" behind the film, but also commends screenwriter Edwin J. Burke's dialogue "as amazingly skillful in satisfying the demand for wisecracks while retaining the quality of naturalness and always keeping in character".