The film includes a parody with B.E.A.T. as a stand-in for est. In "American Film Now", Friedrich Bismark is simply described as "the Werner Erhard character". "The Grove Book of Hollywood" describes Bert Convy as a "Werner Erhard-lookalike", in his portrayal of Friedrich Bismark. Barbara Jane Bookman's guilty feelings for not "getting it" after completing her B.E.A.T. seminar are seen as a reference to: "how creeds like est put nonbelievers on the defensive". The book also notes: "The film captures the peculiar mixture of spirituality and pragmatism that surrounded est", and also describes the minister's capital gains tax advice to Friedrich Bismark at Shake's wedding as "sardonic". A 1977 review in "TIME" refers to Friedrich Bismark's B.E.A.T. as "an est-like movement", and notes: "the Ritchie-Bernstein version of an est seminar is done with marvelous malice". "Psychiatry and the Cinema" characterizes the film as a "devastating parody" of the est training.