The A.V. Club by Noel Murray

The movie has a lumpy shape, and its jokes are often obvious and crude, but it’s a lot sweeter than the other raunchy comedies of the era.

Washington Post by Gary Arnold

Meatballs is a tartly, unpretentiously funny as its title. A sort of "M*A*S*H" for campers, the deftly timed episodic comedy is fabricated around the pranks, games, rivalries and lusts at a summer camp. As the seniors boys' counselor, an easygoing role model and spontaneous comic genius, Bill Murray of "Saturday Night Live" makes a deceptively sensational debut as a film comedy star. [11 July 1979, p.B1]

The Associated Press

It's all there -- the lighthearted summer romances, the intercamp rivalry with the rich kids across the lake and, of course, the nonstop practical jokes. If one or two fall flat, so what. The next probably will hit your funnybone...That gentle quality keeps "Meatballs" from being as totally off-the-wall as "Animal House," but there are plenty of laughs. [2 July 1979]

The Associated Press by Bob Thomas

It's all there -- the lighthearted summer romances, the intercamp rivalry with the rich kids across the lake and, of course, the nonstop practical jokes. If one or two fall flat, so what. The next probably will hit your funnybone...That gentle quality keeps "Meatballs" from being as totally off-the-wall as "Animal House," but there are plenty of laughs. [2 July 1979]

Entertainment Weekly

More Murray-centric scenes were shot after a test screening showed that little without him worked.

Entertainment Weekly by Josh Wolk

More Murray-centric scenes were shot after a test screening showed that little without him worked.

Variety

Scripters have managed to gloss over the stereotypes and come up with a smooth-running narrative that makes the camp hijinks part of an overall human mosaic. No one is unduly belittled or mocked, and Meatballs is without the usual grossness and cynicism of many contempo comedy pix.

IGN

It lacks guidance or any real momentum. When Bill Murray isn't on screen, the air is sucked out of the picture, leaving audiences anxiously waiting for his next scene.

Time Out

Learning to fit is what this dodo of a camp is all about, showing that the American Way is big and blowsy enough to take a few off-the-wall-style persons, once the ol' sexuality is straightened out.

Time Out by Staff (Not Credited)

Learning to fit is what this dodo of a camp is all about, showing that the American Way is big and blowsy enough to take a few off-the-wall-style persons, once the ol' sexuality is straightened out.

IGN by RL Shaeffer

It lacks guidance or any real momentum. When Bill Murray isn't on screen, the air is sucked out of the picture, leaving audiences anxiously waiting for his next scene.

Variety by Staff (Not Credited)

Scripters have managed to gloss over the stereotypes and come up with a smooth-running narrative that makes the camp hijinks part of an overall human mosaic. No one is unduly belittled or mocked, and Meatballs is without the usual grossness and cynicism of many contempo comedy pix.

Washington Post by K.C. Summers

Murray, though, is wonderful. He doesn't quite duplicate the manic madness of his "Saturday Night" bits, but his performance as Tripper, the camp's head counselor, almost makes the film's sophomoric humor worth sitting through. He's a master of improvisation, flitting from role to role - one minute a swaggering, would-be Lothario, the next a frenzied coach - with Morkian speed. He's also got a human side. When he's not clowning around he takes time to befriend a homesick 12-year-old camper (Christopher Makepeace), thus displaying a streak of responsibility that would curl John Belushi's hair. [13 July 1979, p.24]

Chicago Reader by Dave Kehr

The film is generous and often gentle. With Bill Murray, very likable as a head counselor who gruffly plays Wallace Beery to an updated, angst-ridden Jackie Cooper (Chris Makepeace).

Newsweek by Jack Kroll

This film has almost none of the scraggy, raunchy, irreverent anarchy that gave "Animal House" a kind of perverse anti-style. There's nothing at all perverse about Meatballs; in fact, it's so cutesy, squeaky-clean that it becomes Andy Hardy with a few extra belches. [9 July 1979, p.68]

Time

The movie is a series of shopworn jokes, executed with no discernible flair. The writers have done little more than round up the usual array of stereotyped characters: a horny fat boy, a bespectacled nerd, a conceited stud, busty girls and so on.

The New York Times by Vincent Canby

With far fewer high spirits than “Animal House,” and only two characters of any interest, Meatballs reveals itself to be a loud, offkey cry for conformism of a most disappointing sort. It's a sheep in wolf's clothing.

TV Guide Magazine

If you liked camp, you may like this film. If you hated camp, you may also like this film. If you like good comedies, you probably won't like this film.