As much as Brantley liked the play, he loved the performances. "Only Mr. Norton and Mr. Hill are from the original cast of the production that I saw at the National Theater in London a year ago, yet this ensemble feels even more of a piece. Mr. Norton’s peevish, self-delighted autocrat will generate the most talk (and surely all sorts of prizes to add to the Olivier Award he picked up in London). But everyone wears his part as if it were a favorite pair of old work gloves. Mr. Hill’s faltering body language as the terminally nearsighted Ivan remains priceless. Mr. Mahon portrays a shallow man without merely coasting on the surface. As the central adversaries, Mr. Morse and Mr. Hinds give the show a diamond-hard dramatic center it lacked in London. Mr. Morse locates exactly the fear of going wrong in the hulking, taciturn Sharky’s careful movements and measured words. Mr. Hinds is uncanny in balancing the mortal failings of Mr. Lockhart’s borrowed body and the immortal rage and agony of the demon within."

For David Rooney of Variety, "While McPherson has been down parallel roads before and has traced his characters' tentative emergence from painful isolation with more poignancy and lucidity, he remains a gifted spinner of yarns. And there's much to savor here in the vividly alive character details and fully inhabited performances." Rooney goes on to note that, "Affecting in his sullen withdrawal and intimidatingly powerful when he flares up in a rage, Morse is a commanding presence, wearing Sharky's burdens like a heavy cloak. With his nerdy underbite, lolling tongue, greasy combover and head scrunched deep into his slouching shoulders, Hill is equal parts repulsive and endearing as a shameless moocher, content to be everyone's lackey so long as it keeps the alcohol flowing. Best of all is Norton. Cantankerous, ever-alert, self-aggrandizing and self-pitying when it serves his needs, Richard is right up there with the great filthy, mischief-making drunks of all time."

Michael Kuchwara of AP thought, "McPherson, who also directed his play, has been remarkably generous to all his actors. Despite the ensemble nature of the play, each gets his moment to shine and build a distinct character." And, he adds, "McPherson allows us to revel in an all-male world of alcohol-fueled friendships, relationships that are equal parts bravado and insecurity."

For Linda Winer of Newsday, "The last third of the evening does build to one of the prolific playwright's most haunting otherworldly solos, this one for the well-dressed stranger, Mr. Lockhart, who arrives to collect on a very big-time gambling debt." However, she thought, "The lead-up, however, is dominated by the kind of showy acting, often about the Irish and iconically sloshed in alcohol, which either cracks you up or does not. The production, meticulously directed by McPherson, offers many varieties of this funny/sad, cuddly/ tragic style in virtuosic abundance. Everyone seated around me at a recent preview appeared to be enchanted and amused by it. Wish I were there."

And Clive Barnes of the New York Post also was less than impressed. "The writing is standard issue Irish-playwright whiskey-sodden banter - very good of its quick interweaving, miasmic kind - and the characters are odd enough to be diverting company for a couple of hours. Although the very modest production looks as if it was meant to occupy a larger space, McPherson's staging goes at a nicely galloping pace, and the acting throughout is excellent."