Siskel & Ebert were split, Siskel giving the film a "thumbs up" and Ebert giving it a "thumbs down," criticizing Allie Fox for being "boring." However, he did compliment Ford's performance. Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" called it "utterly flat." In her review for "The Washington Post", Rita Kempley wrote: In her review for the "Los Angeles Times", Sheila Benson wrote, "He's orchestrated "The Mosquito Coast"'s action to match Fox's progressive mental state, from rage to explosion to squalls and finally to hurricane velocity; however, the film leaves us not with an apotheosis, but exhaustion." In his review for "The Globe and Mail", Jay Scott wrote, ""The Mosquito Coast" is a work of consummate craftsmanship and it's spectacularly acted, down to the smallest roles ... but its field of vision is as narrow and eventually as claustrophobic as Allie's." The negative reviews the film received prompted Harrison Ford to defend the film in the media: