The Daily Telegraph said "the actors succeed in creating an atmosphere of tangible discomfort but what they ultimately assemble is a subjective sketch, not a description or even a statement on the problem of verbal communication.
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Originally conceived as a stage play by Mike Leigh and Leslie Blair, Bleak Moments still retains many theatrical elements – confined locations, emphasis on dialogue, finely drawn and executed characterisation, and little action in the cinematic sense of the word.
The film may be considered on two levels: first, as a tragi-comedy – with Sylvia, the secret sherry-drinker; Peter, the advocate of McLuhan who cannot string a coherent sentence together; the Malteser-eating Pat (resplendent in home-knitted jerseys of the type she is constantly knitting), horrified when her mother leaves her false teeth out when 'guests are here' in the shape of a mute twenty-nine-year-old with a mental age of two; and Norman, nervously strumming one drug song after another on his guitar, confessing that he comes not from Doncaster but from Scunthorpe.
The flat, two-dimensional photography, the exaggerated slowness and repetition of the action, the over-acting of Peter and Pat – all these aspects heighten the total inability of the characters to come to terms with and break out of their inhibited mental and physical state.
Hilda, of course, mirrors this situation since she is handicapped through fault of birth, while the others have the potential to lead happy lives but do not, the hard-hitting propaganda of Family Life, with which it is bound to be compared, but it grows in stature through avoiding sensationalism, and is an encouraging directorial debut from Mike Leigh.
"[11] The critic Michael Coveney (writing in 1996) wrote that "Even though the sound quality is poor and the pace a little on the leisurely side - there is tonal assurance and technical finesse in the presentation of the marvellous performances that proclaims both originality and talent.
The general inability to express inner feelings reinforces a mood of bleak, Slavic despair..[there is a] Chekhovian atmosphere, unrelieved by the sort of cathartic climax that characterises most of Leigh's subsequent work."
Even the exterior shots have a plaintive, insistent quality, with beautifully composed views of pebbledash houses and garages, of clear roads and tall trees, around West Norwood and Tulse Hill.
Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun Times said "Bleak Moments is a masterpiece, plain and simple... its greatness is not just in the direction or subject, but in the complete singularity of the performances."
Bleak Moments has been released in 4:3 aspect ratio several times in the UK: VHS (BFI/Connoisseur Video, 2000), DVD (Soda Pictures, 2008, 2015), and as part of The Mike Leigh Film Collection box set (Spirit Entertainment Ltd, 2008).