The series divided critics with many praising its direction, writing, and its ensemble, in particular Jeff Daniels leading performance, but criticizing its exploration into the themes of the Tom Wolfe 1998 novel of the same name. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 50% approval rating with an average rating of 5.5/10, based on 40 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "For a show with excellent pedigree and a Tom Wolfe novel to draw from, A Man in Full is disappointingly half-baked in its exploration of masculinity." Metacritic assigned a score of 50 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
The central performance by Jeff Daniels was praised by critics with Richard Roeper of The Chicago Sun-Times declaring him as being "perfectly cast" and having "turned in a world-class performance as the powerful and obscenely wealthy but beleaguered real estate tycoon". David Bianculli of NPR agreed calling his performance "charismatic" and having "created a formidable man who's used to throwing his weight around."