"[1] On its release, Kent Zimmerman of The Gavin Report described "Still in Hollywood" as a "rocker" and added, "Those of us into mass urban transit will relate to the lunacy depicted in the lyrics and brash chord work.

He wrote, "Simpson's anything-goes camera is constantly zooming and tilting and moving from one location to another, and into the predominant grainy black-and-white imagery she throws speeded-up effects, frantic editing, color animation and a whole lot else.

"[9] Jim Farber of the Daily News noted the song's "vintage late-'70s spunk" and added that Napolitano "helps considerably [by] conjuring up a combination of Martha Davis and Poly Styrene".

He also commented on the "slash-'n'-burn style" video, which he felt was "aided by effectively ratty black-and-white photography" and "manages to block the sunshine from its L.A. setting and show you the Hollywood underneath".

[10] Gene Armstrong of The Arizona Daily Star praised the "pleasing" song's "maelstrom of tense, angry emotions, which are lent a stabilizing air by Napolitano's uneasy resolve".

[11] In a review of Concrete Blonde, Greg Burliuk of The Kingston Whig-Standard noted how the band's "street-wise lyrics verge on the poetic" and described "Still in Hollywood" as "a vivid portrayal of street life in Tinsel Town".

[12] William Ruhlmann retrospectively wrote for AllMusic, "The song borders on punk rock, as Mankey repeats the same riff over and over and Napolitano spits out the angry lyric like Exene Cervenka.