Critical Reception
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times observed, "Her Cardboard Lover may have been a charming bit of nonsense fifteen years ago, when Leslie Howard and Jeanne Eagels played it on the Empire Theatre's stage the years have not been kind to it, and neither have the present revivalists. For the screenplay by four weary writers is just a lot of witless talk, and the performance, under George Cukor's direction, is close to ridiculous. Miss Shearer either overacts deliberately, but without any comic finesse, or she has been looking at the pictures of fancy models in the high-tone fashion magazines. Mr. Taylor, who had finally gotten somewhere as an actor, is back where he began — back as a piece of well-dressed furniture compelled to make the most inane remarks." He later named it one of the years's ten worst films.
TV Guide rated the film 2½ out of four stars and commented, "An ancient and overused farcical comedy, this story is handled with as much aplomb as can be expected from Shearer, Taylor, and Sanders, and even with Cukor as director it still falls apart quickly . . . herself picked this moldering story out of the MGM vaults for reasons only would know. It was a sad swan song to an otherwise illustrious career."
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