The writing team of Panama and Frank were basically reprising the successful road pictures formula that had worked well with Hope, Crosby and Lamour with Curtis, Scott and Lisi now taking on the similar roles in a "limp service comedy" as Scott's biographer, David Sheward characterized the slight film. Essentially, the road picture had now moved into the air. The team of Peter Barnes and Larry Gelbart were brought in as screenwriters/ "doctors", but the plot line remained sophomoric. Panama resorted to a hodge-podge of effects, ranging from animated cartoons, to clips from foreign films and "Mighty Joe Young" with Bob Hope making a cameo appearance, which further accentuated the slapstick nature of the farce. Curtis later commented that he felt that casting had always remained an issue, as he was better suited to playing the "wolf" rather than the more passive character of the besieged husband. Considered an amicable comedy typical of the period, critics like Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" gave "Not with My Wife, You Don't!" a sympathetic review. "It is, nevertheless, the kind of farce that will someday look like a couple of million dollars in the context of the small screen's regular programing. It has been beautifully photographed in Technicolor and it has a competent cast headed by Tony Curtis, Virna Lisi and George C. Scott. And, on the small screen, its gags and situations may seem almost Shavian." "Variety" saw a great deal in the film's lightweight premise, "Zesty scripting, fine performances, solid direction and strong production values sustain hilarity throughout." "Not with My Wife, You Don't!" was nominated for the 1967 Golden Globe in the category of Best Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy. Releasing it slightly in advance of the film (per normal for the era), Popular Library published a novelization of the screenplay, by Evan Lee Heyman, the author of several notable novelizations of the 1960s. Atypically, the book does not credit the source screenplay (allowing one to infer, incorrectly, that the novel came first), but the 1966 copyright is assigned to Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.