Will Britney's bomb kill her comeback?

So much for Britney Spears's breathlessly hyped comeback. A day after the pop star performed as if in a trance at the MTV Video Music Awards, critics and fans alike were questioning whether the singer can salvage her career.

Spears, who got tongues wagging at previous VMAs by writhing with a python and swapping spit with Madonna, put on an embarrassing show Sunday, clad in a black-and-silver glitter bikini and clumsily lip-synching the words to the unremarkable "Gimme More," the first single from her forthcoming album.

"She looks like she doesn't care," Whoopi Goldberg said yesterday on "The View." "This is like a bad stripper."

Dr. Phil, a guest on the show, agreed and went one step further. As he watched Spears stagger through her performance at the Palms Resort Casino in Las Vegas, Dr. Phil said he wondered if he'd "bought tickets to a train wreck."

Spears, whose performance was universally panned, trudged through her paces as if she were at dress rehearsal, teetering around on high-heeled boots and exhibiting all the spark of a wet paper bag as she wearily mixed it up with a troupe of dancers. And the ballyhooed Criss Angel "illusion" that was supposed to accompany her song? It vanished. Perhaps comic Sarah Silverman was right in her hit-and-miss monologue following Brit's opener: "She's 25 years old and she's already accomplished everything she's going to accomplish in her life." Ouch.