A. O. Scott of The New York Times said, "Mr. Fry revels in the chaos of the plot, and the profusion of arch one-liners and zany set pieces gives the picture a hectic, slightly out-of-control feel. Sometimes you lose track of who is who, and where the various characters are going—but then, so do they. Subplots and tangents wander into view and then fade away, and in the end it all comes together and makes sense, more or less…Period dramas set on the eve of World War II are a dime—or maybe a shilling—a dozen, but what distinguishes this one is its dash and vigor. It does not seem to have been made just for the sake of the costumes and the vintage cars. The camera, rather than composing the action into a presentable pageant, plunges in, capturing the madness of the era in a swirl of colors and jolting close-ups. And Mr. Fry's headlong style helps rescue the movie from the deadly trap of antiquarianism".
