Ben Stiller finds it hard to believe that his 2016 comedy sequel Zoolander 2 was “that bad”.

During an appearance on the YouTube show Hot Ones on Thursday, the There’s Something About Mary star was asked to name which of his movies was “most misunderstood or treated unfairly by critics, now with the benefit of hindsight”.

“Oh, man, I don’t know,” Stiller replied. “I mean, look, it’s very hard to analyse why critics like something or don’t. I’m always surprised when critics love something and I’m always surprised when they hate something too, you know, because it’s so subjective.”

He then went on to address the reaction to the Zoolander sequel, which he co-wrote, produced, directed and starred in. Despite fans waiting for 15 years for the sequel to the 2001 hit comedy, it was slated by critics and flopped at the box office.

Stiller said of the sequel, “It’s hard to think it was that bad, that people didn’t like it that much. But maybe I’m wrong.”

The 59-year-old opened up about the film earlier this year, admitting that he was “hurt” and “blindsided” by the response.

“I thought everybody wanted this,” he said on David Duchovny’s new podcast Fail Better in April. “And then it’s like, ‘Wow, I must have really f**ked this up.’ Everybody didn’t go to it. And it’s gotten these horrible reviews.”

“What scared me the most on that one was I’m losing what I think what’s funny, the questioning yourself… on Zoolander 2, it was definitely blindsiding to me. And it definitely affected me for a long time.”

© Cover Media