In the film, an action star (Khurrana) goes on the run after accidentally killing the brother of a ruthless politician (Ahlawat).

Vicky Solanki, an aspiring politician currently contesting the local elections, wants to meet Maanav to gain publicity.

Unbeknownst to Maanav, Vicky's brother Bhoora Singh Solanki, a municipal councilor of Mandothi, is on his tail to hunt him down.

Upon pressuring his manager Roshan for help, Maanav finally gets to meet Sai, a lawyer and fixer, for capturing potential footage of Bhoora killing the two police officers.

[14] The song "Aap Jaisa Koi" was recreated from the 1980 film Qurbani sung by Pakistani singer Nazia Hassan, and was composed by British Indian producer Biddu.

[15] The film version of "Aap Jaisa Koi" replaces original male vocalist Altamash Faridi with Yash Narvekar.

[20] Bollywood Hungama gave 4/5 stars and wrote "An Action Hero works due to Ayushmann's action-oriented role and Jaideep's screen presence.

[21] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "The film bustles with coiled energy every time Jaideep Ahlawat is on the screen as a toughie responding to a rough, ready and rustic notion of justice and self-worth".

[22] Sonil Dedhia of News 18 gave 3.5/5 stars and said that the film is "wacky, breezy, bizarre and outlandish".

[23] Pratikshya Mishra of The Quint gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "The film makes fun of everything it can get its hands on while weaving a story worthy of its strong cast".

[27] Rohit Bhatnagar of The Free Press Journal gave 3.5/5 stars and said that the film might derail from the set formula concept, but it might entertain and delve deeper into world affairs.

[28] Pallabi Dey Purkayastha of OTTplay gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Forget about the questionable choice of title, An Action Hero is actually an intelligent dark comedy that will leave you in splits on more than one occasion.

[29] Sukanya Verma of Rediff gave 3/5 stars and wrote "An Action Hero oil and water combination of genres doesn't always gel, gets overly far-fetched in places but still holds up on the strength of whimsy and surprise".

[30] Archika Khurana of The Times of India gave 3/5 stars and wrote "The interesting thing about the film is not so much the story itself, but seeing Ayushmann Khurrana get into the skin of an action hero and flex his muscles (literally) on screen".

[32] Anuj Kumar of The Hindu wrote "Debutant writer-director Anirudh Iyer delivers a piquant entertainer that makes sharp observations on the fickleness of fame and futility of bloated egos".