roger ebert of the "chicago sun-times" praised the performances of lemmon and garner but felt the movie was "a series of cheap shots and missed opportunities". however, he said that "a lot of the cheap shots are funny, and maybe the climate is wrong for sharply barbed political satire. i dunno. this is not a great comedy and will be soon forgotten, but it has nice moments." james berardinelli of "reelviews" also complimented the actors, writing "lemmon and garner slip comfortably into their roles" and saying the movie has "some good one-liners", but he criticized the "failed attempts to inject embarrassingly trite melodrama and recycled action sequences into the story" and also felt the political satire was "weak and obligatory". mick lasalle of the "san francisco chronicle" described "my fellow americans" as a "pleasing but mediocre film, with a great cast, a great story and a misguided script."