[5] Trial Run was the first New Zealand feature film to be written and directed by a woman,[a] and had a largely female cast and crew.
[2][6] Marathon runner Allison Roe and reporter Karen Sims appear briefly as themselves in a television interview seen early in the film.
In New Zealand, The Press described it as "enjoyable and satisfying in its small way",[7] while Rip It Up felt the film suffered from a "rather sketchy script".
[8] In the UK, critic F. Maurice Speed called it a "fascinating and cleverly worked thriller";[9] Leslie Halliwell and John Elliot found the film generated some suspense but criticised its surprise ending as weak;[10][11] while Time Out and The Guardian found the final revelation of the culprit's motives to be "preposterous" and "verging on the incomprehensible".
[12][13] Several film historians have compared Trial Run to Gaylene Preston's Mr. Wrong (1985), another New Zealand thriller with feminist themes.