布兰妮：星踪可考

Critical reaction to the documentary was mixed. Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive reaction calling the film "an unstoppable documentary, Spears can finally tell her side of the story without periods, or commas".[6] MSNBC was negative in its review, writing that Spears provided "very little insight about her life, her decision-making, or her mistakes", and that Spears responses were "vague, occasionally contradictory". MSNBC concluded that "All that Britney: For the Record leaves us with, then, is a faint portrait of a 26-year-old whose life is unlike any other 26-year-old's, even though she wants to convince herself otherwise".[7] The Hartford Courant criticized the documentary for being "an infomercial about rehabilitating the image of Britney Spears." The review would go on to note "'No topic was off limits,' insisted a title at the beginning of the film, which explained that MTV cameras got to follow her for 60 days this fall. 'No question went unanswered.' But of course not every question was asked in the first place.[8] Australian newspaper The Age described it as "nothing more than a miserable, anxious limp through an entirely unsteady 'comeback'.[9]

MTV reported that "Britney: For the Record" accumulated the largest average viewers on a regular Sunday with averaged 3.7 million viewers, per the network.[10][11] Combined with the rerun immediately after the first showing, it received 5.6 million viewers overall. The documentary received three times more viewers than various MTV series including their number one hit series The Hills.[10] In Australia, the primetime broadcast on Network Ten attracted a national audience of 1.42 million viewers, which equates to just under 7% of the entire country's population. The documentary, as such, became the fourth most watched programme of the week. In the United Kingdom, the broadcast received 391,000 viewers and 1.8% share. Moreover, it also received 4.6% amongst adults 16-34 and 5.1% among women 16-34. Aside from a repeat of Doctor Who on BBC Three, "Britney: For the Record" was the highest rated multichannel (cable) show for the night (December 1, 2008).[12] According Televisa Views in Mexico the documentary scored the number one spot two nights in a row, on its debut night the documentary was viewed by more than 2.3 million viewers and on its second night it scored 2 million for a total of 4.3 millions views in the two showings, the documentary beat Desperate Housewives for the Sunday showing in Mexico by 1.25 million.