Film critic Roger Ebert liked the screenplay of the film, and wrote, "And on and on, around and around, in an elegant and sly deadpan comedy. A plot, however clever, is only the clockwork; what matters is what kind of time a movie tells. "Nine Queens" is blessed with a gallery of well-drawn character roles, including the alcoholic mark and his two bodyguards; the avaricious widow who owns the 'nine queens' and her much younger bleached-blond boyfriend, and Valeria the sister, who opposes Marcos' seamy friends and life of crime but might be willing to sleep with Gandolfo if she can share in the spoils." The "San Francisco Chronicle" film critic, Edward Guthmann, also reviewed the film positively and thought the actors performed quite well, writing, "Fast-paced and unerringly surprising, "Nine Queens" is nicely performed by a large cast, particularly Darín as a goateed, less-than-perfect hoodwinker. David Mamet plowed this con-the-con turf in "Heist", "House of Games" and "The Spanish Prisoner", but Bielinsky, in his directing debut, makes it seem sassy and reinvented."