Pauline Kael

"In 1952 Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy played together so expertly in Pat and Mike that some of their previous films seemed almost like warm-ups. The script, by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, isn't up to the best of Adam's Rib, but the stars have achieved such teamwork that their sparring is more beautiful than punchlines. Hepburn plays a phenomenal all-around athlete, and in the course of the picture she takes on Gussie Moran, Babe Zaharias, and a series of other professionals, touching off the comic possibilities in various sports with grace and ease...."

Pauline Kael
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (1968), p. 414