Despite its box office success, critics were not impressed at the time. James Agee wrote, "I would like to recommend this film to those who can stay interested in Ronald Colman's amnesia for two hours and who can with pleasure eat a bowl of Yardley's shaving soap for breakfast." In his "New York Times" review, Bosley Crowther was of the opinion that "for all its emotional excess, "Random Harvest" is a strangely empty film." "Miss Garson and Mr. Colman are charming; they act perfectly. But they never seem real." "Variety" praised the performances of the two leads, in particular Garson, but noted that Colman seemed older than the role.