Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" called it "a brisk and bubbly film" with Lemmon "little short of brilliant" and MacLaine having "a wonderously casual and candid air that sweeps indignation before it and leaves one sweetly enamoured of her." "Variety" praised the "scintillating performances" by Lemmon and MacLaine but thought that the film "lacks the originality of some of Wilder's recent efforts" and that the 147-minute running time was "an awfully long haul for a frivolous farce." Philip K. Scheuer of the "Los Angeles Times" reported that "I found it a brilliant, though outrageously outspoken comedy." Richard L. Coe of "The Washington Post" panned the film as "overblown and overlong, two hours and three quarters tediously spent on a single joke." "The Monthly Film Bulletin" wrote, "Though the film stretches for two and a third hours, and rarely ventures away from the two principals and the studio-built Rue Casanova, the humour and spontaneity endure surprisingly well ... most credit goes to Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon for yet another "tour de force" of comedy playing."