On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 62% based on 193 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "It's uneven and occasionally somewhat aimless, but "Starsky & Hutch" benefits from Stiller and Wilson's chemistry and a surprisingly warm-hearted script." On Metacritic the film earned a weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on 40 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F.