Juli Thanki of Engine 145 gave the song a "thumbs up", saying that Keith's vocals had "nearly tangible bravado". Randy Lewis of the
Los Angeles Times called the song "cinematic" and compared it to
Marty Robbins's "
El Paso". Reviewing for
The New York Times, Jon Caramanica called the song "a pumped-up and comically desperate tale" and "almost parodic". Matt Bjorke of Roughstock gave the song a positive review, saying that it was Keith's best single in a decade. He also called it "a fantastic reminder of how a strongly lyrical song can take us places and into a movie in our minds." Bjorke also said that "even if you don’t condone the fictional story being told, it’s still a damn good song with a melody which suits the lyric perfectly." ==Controversy==