Most critics like it, and they like it for the same reasons. The praise gathers around the Farrelly brothers’ knack for building an outrageous gag past the point where good taste would have stopped, and around Cameron Diaz, whose sunny, unbothered turn as Mary is credited by nearly every review with keeping the film likeable. Several also note that the characters are warmer than the genre requires and that the jokes are crude without being mean-spirited. Ben Stiller’s hapless pursuer draws steady approval.
The reservations are about length and taste. Variety finds it crudely made and overlong; Empire notes stretches where it slows; Eye for Film thinks the ending is the weakest part. Time Out calls it sexist while admitting it laughed anyway. The one outright dissent comes from The Independent, which admires the performances but finds the women implausible and suggests the brothers get out more. The spread is otherwise narrow.