Critical Reception
The song received mixed reviews. Warren Truitt from About.com described the song as Cyrus' "only misstep" in the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack because of its "weird" merge of country and hip-hop "that sound like Disney's trying a liiittle bit too hard to cover all genres". Heather Phares of Allmusic stated the song was the exception to Cyrus' usual husky and natural songs. Phares added the that "Hoedown Throwdown" was "goofy" and "feels more like a parody of down-home fun than a tribute to it". The Baltimore Sun reviewer Chris Kahltenblach wrote that the song is "catchy as the law allows". Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe praised the "Hoedown Throwdown" was "an epic line dance". Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly described the song as "deep-fried sort of goofy Hee Haw". However, Owen Gleiberman, also of Entertainment Weekly, called Cyrus a "professional charmer" and found that "it's hard to resist when she leads a hip-hop hoedown". The Hollywood Reporter reviewer Michael Rechtshaffen wrote that the song was a "misguided attempt at marrying Hannah's contemporary pop/hip-hop sound with the Grand Ole Opry" and that it was "squirm-inducing". Meanwhile, Mary McNamara, writing for the Los Angeles Times, called the "Hoedown Throwdown" one of the few "flashes of inspiration" in Hannah Montana: The Movie and Variety magazine's Lael Lowenstein referred to it as a "pleasing, rousing, toe-tapping, line-dancing hoedown." The song was included on the short list for Best Original Song at the 82nd Academy Awards. Todd In The Shadows of That Guy With The Glasses described it as the worst musical number to ever appear in a film.
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