the staff at "variety" liked the work of the young cast and forsyth's direction, and wrote, "filmmaker bill forsyth, whose friendly, unmalicious approach recalls that of rené clair, is concerned with young students (in particular, a soccer team goalie, gregory) seeking out the opposite sex. ... as gregory, john gordon sinclair is adept at physical comedy. hepburn is properly enigmatic as the object of his desire, with ensemble approach giving greg's precocious 10-year-old sister played by allison forster a key "femme" role."