Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 58% of 24 critics have given the film a positive review.[3] Boston Globe critic Michael Hardy found fault with Khemir's "well-meaning attempt to correct Western misconceptions of Islam", complaining that the film "is set in the present, but resolutely ignores current events in favor of pervasive nostalgia for the glorious past".[4] However, Matt Zoller Seitz of The New York Times praised it as "a structurally audacious fairy tale that imparts moral lessons and shows how narratives reflect and shape life".[5] According to The Hollywoor reporter reviewer Frank Scheck " What 'Bab' Aziz' lacks in narrative clarity it makes up for in visual and musical splendor, and the fact that its co-screenwriter is Tonino Guerra".