It took time for Spanish film critics to warm up to Almodóvar's work. His earlier films were recognized for the irreverence of their humor and social parody but were generally deemed as frivolous. "Law of Desire" was better received than its predecessor. Ernesto Pardo writing for "Segre" wrote: I have never been keen on Almodóvar ... I find him too over the top, excessive, unreal... As if he lived in another world... on the other hand Law of Desire, Almodóvar has achieved what at the outset seemed impossible. That is, a more than acceptable film". In "Cinco Dias" Antonio Gutti criticized the film's emphasis on the homosexual as too sustained and felt that Almodóvar's irresistible humor did not appear. Angel Fernandez Santos in El Pais considered that the film contained " such an excess of incidents and events that their sheer number neutralizes some of its quality". In El Periodico, Jorge de Cominges commented that:" Pedro Almodóvar success, though, in putting together the different elements of such a wild story. In a quite brilliant manner; he creates characters as arresting as the police detective and his son; and he turns the magnificent Carmen Maura into the most sensual woman you can imagine... Law of Desire is a film which is as satisfying as it is amusing and outstanding achievement". Manuel Hidalgo wrote: " "Law of Desire" is Pedro Almodóvar's most homogeneous, controlled and finished film".