Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an 92% rating based on 112 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The critics consensus reads: "Led by Javier Bardem's charismatic performance and writer-director Fernando León de Aranoa's sharp humor, The Good Boss is a workplace satire worthy of promotion." On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Guy Lodge of Variety gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Fernando León de Aranoa's corporate satire is too long and languidly paced to pull off its farcical inclinations, but it gets by on its star's magnetism."
Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter also gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Slickly entertaining, considering its rather weighty subject matter..."
Javier Zurro of El Español deemed the film to be the best Aranoa film since the 2002 Mondays in the Sun and the best Spanish comedy in (many) years, a genre dominated for some time now by either family comedies or remakes of international titles, generally lacking in original proposals.
Raquel Hernández Luján of HobbyConsolas gave the film 90 out of 100 points, deeming it "excellent", praising the "sharp script", the (actors') direction, and the "careful mise-en-scène".
Quim Casas of El Periódico de Catalunya considered the film to be "a good tragicomedy of social criticism that could well be the counterpart to Mondays in the Sun".
Jonathan Holland of Screen Daily considered the film to be "slickly-made and entertaining, but ultimately a little déjà vu". Plotwise, he deemed the film to be "as smooth and efficient as a well-run factory".
Mirito Torreiro of Fotogramas gave The Good Boss 4 out of 5 stars, highlighting an immense, eminent Javier Bardem in one of his most dazzling performances to date ("he is, quite simply, the movie"), also considering that Aranoa offers viewers a dark comedy displaying a grim portrayal of labour relations.
Reviewing for Cinemanía, Santiago Alverú gave the film 5 out of 5 stars, writing that the political commitment from León de Aranoa and Javier Bardem mixed with the expressive talent of both of them have created a highly entertaining vindication, concluding that "except for Amancio Ortega, the whole of Spain should like it".
The AACCE selected the film as the Spanish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards over Mediterraneo: The Law of the Sea and Parallel Mothers, and it made the 15-film pre-nomination shortlist in December 2021. Ultimately, it was not nominated. It also chose the film as the Spanish submission for Best Ibero-American Film at the 64th Ariel Awards.
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