On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Déjà Vu has an approval rating of 55% based on 160 reviews and an average rating of 5.92/10. The site’s critical consensus reads, “Tony Scott tries to combine action, science fiction, romance, and explosions into one movie, but the time travel conceit might be too preposterous and the action falls apart under scrutiny.”[25] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 59 out of 100, based on 32 reviews, indicating “mixed or average reviews”.

Joel Siegel of ABC News called the film technically “well-made,” but criticized its attempt to describe a supposedly scientific basis for time travel as both silly and dull,[27] as did Manohla Dargis of The New York Times, who additionally found the depiction of parishes decimated by Hurricane Katrina “vulgar”.