Most critics find City Slickers an engaging comedy, with praise clustering around its dialogue, fish-out-of-water gags and the rapport between the three city men on a cattle drive. Jack Palance’s tough trail boss is the most consistently admired performance, even among reviewers less persuaded by the film. The warmer reviews also welcome its gentle mockery of Western conventions and midlife anxiety. For these critics, the friendships give the laughs some emotional weight.
The disagreement centres on whether those friendships remain convincing when the life lessons arrive. The Los Angeles Times finds that the personal dramas and male bonding weaken an initially promising comedy. The New Yorker is more dismissive, treating both the tenderfoot jokes and the group therapy as predictable and contrived. The spread is fairly wide: most critics enjoy the mixture of sentiment and wisecracks, while the dissenters find it familiar and too eager to reassure.