Mark Olsen of the "Los Angeles Times" said, "The film's strengths are in Waugh's story and not so much in the particular spin of these filmmakers. Their decision to turn up the volume on the homosexual undertones between Sebastian and Charles feels like an unimaginative nod to our modern times... In "Brideshead", Jarrold seems too often to consciously be making an in-quotation-marks classy picture, much like last year's "Atonement", in which the costumes and setting are just so, but the human drama gets lost amid the pictorial pleasantries. That the film is neither a true triumph nor a total disaster makes it somewhat difficult to justify revisiting "Brideshead", apart from the hope it will inspire someone somewhere to pick up the book."