Not all reviews were favorable, though. Erik Himmelsbach of "Spin" criticized "Slap-Happy" for essentially being the same as all of the band's previous albums, commenting "What was once fast and loose and dump now sounds lazy and stupid". Raoul Hernandez of "The Austin Chronicle" heavily criticized the second half of the album for being "one long, nasal, wise-ass line after wise-ass line from Donita Sparks, who [...] is quickly becoming self-parody." Although the album received a mixed reaction from media outlets, Sparks retrospectively regards "Slap-Happy" as "a good record", and considers it her third favorite L7 album, behind "The Beauty Process" and "Smell the Magic".