The film has received moderately positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 65% approval rating based on 124 reviews, with an average score of 6.1/10 and a consensus: "Though well-intentioned and serious in its exploration of teen violence, O is an uneven experiment that doesn't quite succeed".[11] On Metacritic, the film achieved an average score of 53 out of 100 based on 26 reviews, signifying "mixed or average reviews".[12]
Roger Ebert gave the film 3 and ½ stars out of 4 and wrote O is "a good film for most of the way, and then a powerful film at the end, when, in the traditional Shakespearean manner, all of the plot threads come together."[8] Ebert added, "Mekhi Phifer makes a strong, tortured Odin, and delivers a final speech, which in its heartbreaking anguish, inspires our pity much as Othello's does. Josh Hartnett showed here, years before 'Pearl Harbor,' that he is capable of subtleties and complexities that epic did not dream of."[8] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle also gave a positive review, writing, "The result is that a tale of teen violence takes on qualities of timelessness and universality it would not otherwise possess, while the 'Othello' story leaps out with a rare immediacy."[13]
Other reviews pointed out how the modern setting of a Shakespeare adaptation emphasizes the improbability of plot events.[14] Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "In modernizing this shattering tale of love, jealousy, deceit and betrayal, screenwriter Brad Kaaya has been faithful to the play's emotions and plot mechanics, but these elements become burdens in a context that can't support them, with the result the drama’s extreme and tragic actions seem fatally under motivated."[10] Desson Howe of The Washington Post positively cited the "hearty performances from Mekhi Phifer, Julia Stiles and Josh Hartnett", but wrote "Hugo's scheming comes across as convoluted and transparent."[14]
