Unpredictable received polarized reviews from music critics. At
Metacritic, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 52, which indicates "mixed or average reviews", based on 16 reviews. Richard Cromelin from
The Los Angeles Times noted that producers on
Unpredictable "create some rich, flavorful, state-of-the-art sonic settings, and Foxx's smooth, agile voice – lots of R. Kelly, a little
Sam Cooke – is fine for the pleading and preening that mark his range on
Unpredictable.
Entertainment Weeklys Michael Endelman felt that the "album is exactly what you'd expect from this sort of vanity project: plenty of competent-if-generic R&B booty jams and
Cristal-sippin' anthems with a who's who of cameos that only a suitcase of cash or celebrity status can snag. We know that Foxx can actually sing, but this ballad-heavy disc of clichéd wordplay and commonplace melodies proves his music career should've ended on screen." In a negative review for
Now, Jason Richards remarked that Foxx "should focus on getting back to actin' before we have time to remember his solo album too well, cuz after you get past the fact that, wow, the guy can also sing, there isn't much left to these boring mid-tempo sex jams." Alex Petridis of
The Guardian was also not impressed with the album, writing: "
Unpredictable resembles another legendary thespian's venture into pop,
William Shatner's 1968 opus
The Transformed Man, in that you start to wonder whether Foxx is actually serious or not." ==Commercial performance==