 While John Murphy of MusicOMH praised the song and its "gently lilting reggae rhythm", Priya Elan from "NME" considered that the Althea & Donna groove of "Smile" is what made fans "fall for her in the first place".The former argued that "even people who profess to hate pop music will secretly be tapping a foot to it and claiming it is just downright perfect pop for lolling around during the lazy warm, guaranteed to cheer the listeners up, no matter how down they're feeling".Other reviews came from "The Guardian" reporter Sophie Heawood, who didn't consider the song as Allen's greatest effort, but still thought she was far better than being called "the female Mike Skinner".