 On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".Ed Gonzalez of "Slant Magazine" ranked "Tropical Malady" the third best film of 2005; the aggregation site "They Shoot Pictures, Don't They" has also found the film to be the ninth most acclaimed cinematic work of the 21st century  and in 2016 the work ranked 52nd on an international critics' poll of the greatest films since 2000.In 2019, "The Guardian" ranked "Tropical Malady" 84th in its 100 Best Films of the 21st Century list.