As for modern reviews, Rotten Tomatoes has given "Designing Woman" an overall positive note, regarding it 72 percent "fresh" as opposed to "rotten". Bruce Elder of Allmovie.com gives it two and a half stars out of five, crediting Bacall for giving a "sparkling comic performance". "With the very slight plot one can only deduce...that the "real" point of "Designing Woman" was the issue of masculinity. This, in turn, may explain why Designing Woman remains an amazingly obscure film, given its two high-profile stars and director-it's "about" issues and ideas that aren't easy to discuss or delineate, and is far more challenging and sophisticated than its plot description would indicate."