[7] The film was financed independently because Lee said Hollywood producers wanted to make the Wongs a Caucasian family for commercial purposes.
[8] When asked why the film is important to her, Lee stated that the story started as her own, yet while creating the script she was more interested in the backstory and how to capture a unique period of time in a family's dynamic.
The site's critics consensus reads, "Flawed yet filled with finely detailed characters, Red Doors is a glimpse of the Asian-American experience that suggests great promise for writer-director Georgia Lee.
"[3] In the New York Daily News, Elizabeth Weitzman stated, "There's enough affection and insight to make Lee's next movie worth watching for.
"[12] Ty Burr of The Boston Globe wrote, "The script has a sure feeling for the cross-currents of family tensions, but the filmmaker isn't sure how hard to bear down, and the various stories never convincingly knit together.
"[13] Janet Hanson of The Wall Street Journal wrote, "This is a hilariously funny and unbelievably revealing film about an Asian family living in the U.S. and dealing with the colliding worlds of their traditional heritage and their current reality.
The choices they must make as individuals, as family members and as Asian Americans are sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreaking -- and ultimately self-defining for the characters, the filmmakers and those of us who watch the film.