Critical response

Applesauce received a positive response from critics. The film holds a 71% positive "Fresh" rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.^[4] Ronnie Scheib of Variety praised Applesauce as "Onur Tukel's latest and most accomplished microbudget exercise in cynical absurdism" and added, "With its sarcastic dialogue, deadpan humor, believably flawed characters and surreal logic, 'Applesauce' may expand Tukel's growing indie fan base into niche release."^[2] Eric Kohn of Indiewire gave the film a modest "B" rating, calling it a "spot-on urban satire." He further wrote:

The movie's third act melts into a series of random twists involving death, multiple acts of vengeance and other peculiar developments, some of which are left unresolved. Even then, however, the wacky, unruly plot has a consistent through line: Tukel invests most of his narrative making terrible people objects of ridicule, with a final punchline suggesting that, in the game of life, everyone's stuck on one side or the other of the same bad joke.^[5]

Conversely, Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the script for possessing "an unfavorable view of human nature that it’s difficult to identify any likeable characters, most of whom are constantly scheming to manipulate and discredit one another." He added:

As the principal instigator, Tukel bestows Ron with an outsize share of unpleasant qualities that are elaborated with a tiresomely repetitive performance that draws the supporting cast into a diminishing spiral of criticism and retribution. Their sometimes vague motivations and a series of implausible plot developments are further off-putting factors periodically derailing the narrative, which consistently struggles to connect, despite the film’s passable indie-production aesthetic.^[6]