Brian Tallerico from "UGO" thought that the episode was not as good as "The Simpsons Movie". He said that the writers went back to their "old clichés" and that the same jokes were said too many times. He liked the start of the episode that shows the events after the movie. Robert Canning from "IGN" said that the episode is "mediocre". He thought that Colbert being in the episode was "disappointing". He liked some parts of the episode. For example, Homer being in Chicago, and Colby giving Homer motivation on the plane. Richard Keller from TV Squad liked the episode and thought Homer was a better character in this episode. Al Jean said that this is one of his favorite episodes.