Margaret is a down-on-her-luck hooker in training, who meets up with Jo, a beautiful and self-assured grifter from a wealthy family and an expert on servicing women, even as she considers herself proudly heterosexual.

Mark Adams, chief film critic of Screen International, wrote, "The film, though clearly micro-budget and at times acted with enthusiasm rather than precision, is a gentle charmer and punctuated with some delightful dialogue and set-piece sequences."

Dennis Harvey of Variety, said in his review that "This equally absurdist exercise gets off to a good start portraying an unlikely Manhattan prostitution trade in homeless but well-educated females serving closeted lesbian socialites.

"[7] Emma Myers an “aspiring writer”[8] at Sundance as part of a critic training program at Indiewire graded the film C− and wrote, ""The Foxy Merkins" has all the right ingredients to please Olnek's niche audience.

Stephen Holden from the NY Times wrote about The Foxy Merkins “One of its charms is its cheerful demolition of female stereotypes, gay and straight” and called it “sly” “funny” and “sweet.”[10] Justin Lowe in his review for The Hollywood Reporter said of star and co-writer Lisa Haas, "Haas, who also played the lead in Codependent, reprises a similar, wide-eyed role, but is so effective at drawing out some of the film’s more ridiculously awkward moments that it’s hard to imagine any established actress outdoing her.".