 Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film two out of four stars, and felt the movie's premise was too similar to many others, such as the 1980s-set coming-of-age film "Adventureland", which was released the week before, and also set in Pittsburgh.He felt the main character was hard to sympathise with and that the plot was like a "1930s Warner Bros. social melodrama".He was more praising of the acting for the film's supporting cast, but felt that their characters' motivations were left unclear.