GW: Sometimes when you meet the fans, do you feel that they’re disappointed because you’re even-keeled? Of course, this wouldn’t be the last time that Weezer embraced their heavier side – they made an album called Van Weezer for pity’s sake – but Malardoit would be arguably the last time that Rivers presented himself to the world without a protective shield of irony around everything he did, keeping fans and critics alike at arms length, never allowing us to spot sincerity without a hint of snark. Beaumont, Mark (December 21, 2002). "Weezer: Maladroit". NME. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016 . Retrieved January 25, 2011.

Ratliff, Ben (June–July 2002). "Weezer: Maladroit". Blender (7): 100. Archived from the original on August 8, 2004 . Retrieved July 6, 2016. this song starts off bad and annoying to me but after about a minute it switches and sounds much better, not annoying, catchy, fun. Lyrics are not very good but instruments sound nice and song is really fun I said fun again yay yay yay fun

Due to the head start that "Dope Nose" was given, it proved to be yet another successful single for the band. An additional single, "Keep Fishin'", was released in September of 2002 with a music video featuring The Muppets (yes, THE Muppets). The MFLT is appropriate because, yeah, Maladroit is definitely not a return to the sound of the band's mid-90s artistic peak. But to give them the benefit of the doubt, it's pretty apparent what the Weez are shooting for with the new record-- a further distillation of their power-pop specialties into short, catchy, big-riff-centered nuggets. Many writers will probably try to lump this incarnation of the band in with Andrew W.K. and the White Stripes for a 'Return of the Rawk!' style feature, but what's truly apparent is Weezer's now-complete focus upon the concert experience rather than studio twiddling. The flying-V guitars and large light-up =W= of their stage act no longer carry the wink that they used to, and these songs are tailored specifically to provoke mosh pits and elicit rampant flashing of devil-horns. Cromelin, Richard (May 12, 2002). "From Weezer, Exuberant 'Maladroit' Is Anything But". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved August 30, 2013. Christgau, Robert (April 22, 2003). "Not Hop, Stomp". The Village Voice. New York. Archived from the original on December 20, 2013 . Retrieved February 9, 2013.

As with all Weezer albums, it was an album of firsts. It was the first album to feature current bassist Scott Shriner after the breakdown and departure of Mikey Welsh, the first to contain a booklet with lyrics (which included a special message thanking Weezer boardies), and the first to feature more than ten songs. The first 600,000 copies of Maladroit were numbered in a limited edition, with gold foil digits at the bottom corner. Maladroit received mostly positive at the time of release, but remains one of the band's lowest-selling albums. The album's only singles, " Dope Nose" and " Keep Fishin'" received respectable radio play and MTV circulation, propelled by popular music videos, but failed to really get the album off the ground. A Rolling Stone reader poll ranked Maladroit as the 8th best album of 2002, with another reader poll from 2002 ranking it as the 90th greatest album of all time. [9] I only like the chorus of this song. everything else annoys me. instruments sound bad until chorus too. verses bad bad versus, bad verses! also pointless guitar solo Weezer[Good Album] Honestly, Maladroit is everything that the Green Album ever wanted to be, and maybe a little bit more. Sure, it isn't a masterpiece and fails to reach the same heights as their debut, the peak-geek-freak amazing record, but Maladroit is really nice. In a 2022 retrospective on the occasion of Maladroit's 20th anniversary, Stereogum writer Rachel Brodsky said of the record, "In terms of actual album content, Maladroit is so much better than most remember. It’s a peculiar kind of aging, and what you think of the album may have everything to do with how old you are. For those ’90s die-hards who won’t accept anything after Pinkerton, Maladroit represents a broken, unacceptable band on a perma-decline. For the younger sect — say, anyone born in or after the ’90s — Maladroit is early enough in Weezer’s overall catalog that it represents an acceptable entry point before things got really bad." [10] Individual songs ReviewerThe songwriting here is very fun, quirky and exotic, and Rivers Cuomo has the time of his life on some of these songs. Scott Shriner is a member of Weezer for the first time, hey Scott! song is quite boring, topic is boring, sounds boring. I dont really have anything to say besides this is exactly how I thought every weezer song would sound like before I listened to them The Not-Remix: Though they re-recorded "Keep Fishin'" entirely for the music video and single version, the most discernable differences are a new acoustic guitar intro note the album version starts with a couple measures of drums instead and a slightly different ending.

Offiziellecharts.de – Weezer – Maladroit" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved August 7, 2020. Despite the strong sales of its two singles and its #3 spot on the Billboard 200, the album underperformed, going gold, but selling a paltry 605,000 units note as of December 2007; not as terribly as Pinkerton when it first came out, but a far cry from the much more successful Green Album. song sounds fairly nice, nice soft song, lyrics seem pointless but I like how the song sounds. not much else to say, perfectly good song that deserves to be on album. the do's annoy me during chorusOrshoski, Wes. "Geffen's Weezer on 'Maladroit'." Billboard: The International Newsweekly of Music, Video and Home Entertainment May 11, 2002: 1,1, 72. ProQuest. Web. 21 July 2015 .