 Marcia Magill of "Films in Review" said that while "Jaws" "is eminently worth seeing for its second half", she felt that before the protagonists' pursuit of the shark the film was "often flawed by its busyness".William S. Pechter of "Commentary" described "Jaws" as "a mind-numbing repast for sense-sated gluttons" and "filmmaking of this essentially manipulative sort"; Molly Haskell of "The Village Voice" similarly characterized it as a "scare machine that works with computer-like precision.