I remember seeing a print release of the Clerks and Chasing Amy screenplays that had an intro by Kevin Smith. He talked about how the reception of Mallrats was really disappointing because the general thrust of most reviews was “how dare he sell out like this?” But there was one review that said “it’s clear Smith loves slapstick comedy but he just doesn’t know how to direct it.” He felt like that was a review of the movie and not of the movement he was imagined to be part of.

And now you can only find the garbage extended cut as a download online. I had to download like 12 different torrents just to watch the real movie.

It's funny I was gonna mention Mallrats and came across your comment.

100%, I didn't even know this existed and it took a long time to find the right version again