 In a film review for the "Miami New Times", director and film critic Bilge Ebiri observed that Pfeiffer "often played women who were somewhat removed from the world", elaborating, "It wasn't so much unapproachability or aloofness that she conveyed, but a reserve that suggested ... melancholy, pain, dreams deferred", even in some of her more comedic performances.Comparing her resumé to actress Barbara Stanwyck, Elizabeth Kaye of "The Daily Beast" wrote that Pfeiffer's vulnerable characters share a common theme