Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" praised the film's cinematography and Bening's performance, summarizing: "At heart "In Dreams" is just a campfire story, and a pretty loony one at that. But Neil Jordan has directed it furiously, with a lush, insinuating visual style that gets right under the skin." Some critics, such as Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times", commented on the film's dubious plot, deeming it "the silliest thriller in many a moon, and the only one in which the heroine is endangered by apples. She also survives three falls from very high places (two into a lake, one onto apples), escapes from a hospital and a madhouse, has the most clever dog since Lassie and causes a traffic pileup involving a truck and a dozen cars."