On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 18% approval rating based on reviews from 17 critics.[8] On Metacritic the film has a score of 26 out 100 based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[9]
Variety called it "A sub-Tarantino triptych of comic-violent tall tales consisting mostly of bad things happening to dumb people."[3]Stephen Holden of The New York Times, said of the film, "Hee Haw meets Pulp Fiction at the meth lab: That describes the style of Pawn Shop Chronicles, a hillbilly grindhouse yawp of a movie that belches in your face and leaves a sour stink."[10]
The film was reviewed favorably by JoBlo.com. For the site, reviewer JimmyO wrote, "Pawn Shop Chronicles is a wildly bizarre and politically incorrect mix of b-movie genres wrapped into one. Kramer โ with the script by Minarovich โ amps up the action and violence without pushing it too far โ well at least for my personally warped taste."[11]