praising Madonna for "invent[ing] a new Broadway vocal persona, built around a chest voice not yet perfectly under control but still much richer and duskier than her low range sounded before." Robert Christgau from The Village Voice said the record's "show-tune-pop-shlock" suits Madonna "with its pedigree of wit and musicality", as does the music's campiness, which she "sure knows how to do right". He listed "Cry Baby", "He's a Man" and "Hanky Panky" as the best tracks. Mark Coleman from Rolling Stone gave the album a rating of three-and-a-half out of five stars and positive review, claiming that Madonna "pulls it off with brass and panache". He added that "Vogue" showed the singer "can still deliver that indefinable something extra". Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine gave it four out of five stars, declaring: "I'm Breathless proves that Madonna is a true renaissance woman". According to Jon Pareles of The New York Times, "after all the nuances Madonna has brought to the role of the bad girl, it's strange that she would settle now for such a restricted, unexamined version of respectability" and "for the first time, Madonna has let the deal dictate the music". Tan Gim Ean from New Straits Times noted that Madonna played against her strengths on the songs of the album. He described her vocals as "competent", but felt that the songs required "more range and agility than Madonna has at her disposal." Dave Tianen from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel described the album as a "mixed bag of period pieces, some of them too cute for their own good", adding that "I'm Breathless never becomes more than the sum of its mannerisms". AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine claimed that the songs are just "cutesy novelty numbers", and listing "Vogue" as a standout track. Rooksby panned the album, saying that it "failed to transcend the sterile, preserved-in-amber quality of pastiche". Mark Cooper from Q magazine lamented, in its June 1990 review, "It's something of a disappointment because the lady herself stays so firmly committed to a character who's less original than the persona she evolved during the '80s." Nonetheless, in the same magazine's December 1994 issue, Madonna declared: "I would have to say the favorite record that I've made is the soundtrack to Dick Tracy. I love every one of those songs... My judgment is never based on the world's reaction." Music Week staff called a "mediocre soundtrack album".