Roger Ebert admitted that, while "A Night at the Opera" "contains some of their best work", he "fast-forward over the sappy interludes involving Kitty Carlisle and Allan Jones." Danel Griffin says: ""A Night at the Opera" is funny, but this is NOT the Marx Brothers, and their earlier style is so sorely missed that the film falls flat. The main problem with "A Night at the Opera" is the obvious lack of the Marx Brothers' trademark anarchy. What distinguished them in their Paramount films from all other comedians was their thumb-biting indictment of society.