"It's a Gift...is one of W. C. Fields' most subversive, ramshackle, Z-budget productions, in which he could impose an agonizingly slow pace and megalomaniac personality on the type of poverty-row movie no other comedian would want. The high-pressure ego in the low-pressure encasing resulted in scenes like the confrontation between Fields' masochistic store owner and Charles Sellon's blind, sadistic customer, a remarkably antisentimental slapstick that is quite unique in tone. It's a long, slow trip that Fields conducts in his jump from the beleaguered, battered bourgeoisie to a shining rajah among California orange groves, and only die-hard Fieldsians seem to be able to slow down their body clocks to truly appreciate the humor of excruciating anticipation." Andrew Sarris, Tom Allen, Village Voice