The film was panned by most critics and other published commentators of all political stripes, as were the performances of Frechette and Halprin. "The New York Times" reviewer Vincent Canby called "Zabriskie Point" "a noble artistic impulse short-circuited in a foreign land." Roger Ebert echoed Canby, writing: "The director who made Monica Vitti seem so incredibly alone is incapable, in "Zabriskie Point," of making his young characters seem even slightly together. Their voices are empty; they have no resonance as human beings. They don't play to each other, but to vague narcissistic conceptions of themselves. They wouldn't even meet were it not for a preposterous Hollywood coincidence."