On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 95% based on 44 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A is for Amanda, an amusingly absurd coming-of-age comedy that offers poignant observations and positions director Carolina Cavalli as a talent to watch."[8]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 81 out of 100, based on 10 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[9]
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described it as "a film of style and surface, and these are cleverly created and maintained."[10] Wendy Ide of Screen Daily called the film "a refreshingly unconventional and acidic deadpan comic portrait of an offbeat female friendship."[11] Beatrice Loayza of The New York Times selected the film as New York Times Critics' Pick, writing, "Amanda is absurd and abrasive, but also sympathetic thanks to Porcaroli's performance."[12]