John Hartl of MSNBC gave "Spider-Man 3" a positive review, but stated that it has some flaws such as having "too many storylines". His opinion is echoed by "Houston Chronicle"s Amy Biancolli who complained that "the script is busy with so many supporting characters and plot detours that the series' charming idiosyncrasy is sometimes lost in the noise." Jack Matthews of "Daily News" thought the film was too devoted to the "quiet conversations" of Peter and Mary Jane, but that fans would not be disappointed by the action. Finally, Sean Burns of "Philadelphia Weekly" felt that the director "substituted scope and scale for the warmth and wit that made those two previous pictures so memorable." Raimi himself would later call the film "awful" during a podcast interview. Speaking to "Screen Rant" in 2018, Avi Arad also accepted responsibility for pushing Raimi to include Venom in the film, and how the end result had disappointed many fans of the character, saying "I think we learned that Venom is not a sideshow. In all fairness, I'll take the guilt because of what Sam Raimi used to say in all of these interviews feeling guilty that I forced him into it."