"...a non-stop orgy of comic destructiveness. Ron Howard has directed with a broad but amiable and well-disciplined touch in this screwball comedy about his elopement with heiress Nancy Morgan from LA to Las Vegas... Howard never tries to hog the screen and lets his costars have plenty of funny moments. Morgan is pretty and charming as his spunky partner, and it's a nice touch that Howard lets her drive the getaway car..."
- Variety

"This teen comedy is another excuse to smash up a lot of cars."
- Michael Weldon, The Psychotronic Video Guide

"... incredibly assured directorial debut... Released the same year as Smokey and the Bandit, and paying tribute to It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Howard's contribution to the car crash mini-genre is 'tireless' and fetchingly ardent. It's also beholden to Victor Rivers' stunt co-ordination and Joe Dante's judicious editing."
- Paul Bamford, Contemporary North American Film Directors: A Wallflower Critical Guide

"Looking like something that Peckinpah might have made as a boy, this can best be described as an automotive snuff movie... it leaves not a vehicle untotalled. There are some feeble attempts to make statements about young love, political ambition, money and the media, but wrecking cars is what it's all about. As stunts go, they don't go very far, but watching a Roller get wiped out in a demolition derby has its appeal."
- Derek Adams, Time Out

"The plot is perfunctory and the car-crash scenes disappointingly tame."
- Channel 4 Film

"... a poor man's Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World with people chasing each other all over the countryside, stealing cars, and leaving a pile of crashed, crushed, broken, and mangled automobiles in their wake. Co-writer and director Ron Howard, executive producer Roger Corman, and editor Joe Dante were the people responsible, and I suppose we can excuse them for the crudeness of their product. Corman we expect to make cheapies like this, it was Howard's first film, and it was one of Dante's early efforts. Nevertheless, one might have hoped for a little more polish than something resembling a made-for-TV movie."
- John J. Puccio, DVD Town

"This run of the mill car chase/theft/crash movie is noteworthy only because it's Ron Howard's feature film directorial debut. It's occasionally amusing, actually; it's somewhat entertaining to see the comic complications pile up. But the timing is a little off, and, really, there's not exactly anything of substance here."
- At-a-Glance Film Reviews

"If you made a drinking game out of Grand Theft Auto, you'd be dead of alcohol poisoning in under an hour... While the film has its own kind of loopy charm, the humor is sophomoric and tends toward the obvious... What results is a film that seems to be completely the result of Ron Howard's adolescent need to see cars get wrecked... (and) the movie just moves from one group of people chasing the young lovers to another group chasing the young newlyweds, etc. etc. So many cars get wrecked that we felt compelled to count. And that became a challenge during the climax, which takes place after all the main characters blunder their way into a demolition derby, where all great romantic movies have their climaxes."
- Chris Holland & Scott Hamilton, Stomp Tokyo

"Grand Theft Auto is a lot of fun. It's a fast paced movie with a lot of great action and car chase scenes that really keep the movie kicking along at a good speed. While none of the performances are really noteworthy, none of them are awful either and the two lead characters are likable enough that you'll find yourself rooting for them along the way."
- Ian Jane, DVD Maniacs

"Grand Theft Auto could easily be labeled as 'car crash porn', as it religiously seeks to spotlight as many varied vehicles smashing into buildings and other cars at every opportunity. At 84 minutes, at least half of the running time is spent showcasing cars speeding down the freeway, usually ending with a crash, and often an explosion. For what it is, it's not horrendously bad, although people looking to see something more than non-stop destruction will find Howard's creation devoid of meaningful substance."
- Vince Leo, Qwipster's Movie Reviews

"We wouldn't have films like The Fast and the Furious [2001] if it wasn't for Grand Theft Auto."
- Rachel Buccicone, CHUD.com

Compiled by Richard Harland Smith