Stiller directed other movies and TV episodes, including The Cable Guy and Tropic Thunder.

Stiller's comedies have also gotten sequels fairly often. Meet the Parents, for example, was followed up by Meet the Fockers, which then became a trilogy with the 2010 film Little Fockers. It's now expected to have a fourth installment, with Stiller expected to return. Night at the Museum is also a comedy trilogy, beginning with the 2006 film and ending with Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb in 2014. While some of these sequels have been successful, not all his movie sequels have been met with such positive reception.

Ben Stiller Thinks Zoolander 2 Is His Most Misunderstood Film

But He Has A Hard Time Decoding What Critics Like

Stiller maintained that Zoolander 2 was also panned by critics, leading to a 22% Tomatometer. The audience score was even lower than this, with a Popcornmeter of 20%. As a result, the comedy sequel remains one of the most panned movies in his career.

Ben Stiller in scenes from Dodgeball & Zoolander
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Speaking in a Hot Ones interview, Stiller cites Zoolander 2 as the one movie that is most understood after being asked which movie was most underappreciated or misunderstood by critics. He shared the important caveat, "it's very hard to analyze why critics like or don't like something." Nonetheless, he did cite Zoolander 2 as being his most misunderstood movie, saying, "it's like hard to think it was that bad." Check out the full quote from Stiller below:

I mean, look, it's very hard to analyze why critics like or don't like something. I'm always surprised when critics love something, and I'm always surprised when they hate something. Because it's so subjective. I mean, Zoolander 2, probably, I gotta say. I think it got kinda, you know. It's like hard to think it was that bad that people didn't like it that much. But maybe I'm wrong.

Our Take On Zoolander 2's Reception

The Movie Had Big Shoes To Fill

Derek (Ben Stiller) striking a pose in Zoolander

Given the MPA rating alone, it is safe to say that Zoolander 2 is a toned-down version of the first film that plays safer than the first. That said, Stiller was in a hard position when making the sequel. By the time Zoolander 2 was being made, the original movie had amassed a massive following. This made it such that Stiller had very big shoes to fill, so anything that was not up to par would be deemed insufficient for fans.

Zoolander 2 is available to watch on Prime Video and MGM+.

Source: First We Feast

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Zoolander 2
m
Comedy
5/10
5.0/10
Release Date
February 12, 2016
Runtime
102 Minutes
Director
Ben Stiller

Cast

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WHERE TO WATCH

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15 years after Derek Zoolander and Hansel McDonald became allies to take down Mugatu, the pair of fashion models are back. This time, Derek and Hansel discover a sinister conspiracy after traveling to Rome to re the modeling world. Despite Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson returning for the sequel, Zoolander 2 was largely panned upon release in 2016.

Writers
Nicholas Stoller, John Hamburg, Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux
Franchise(s)
Zoolander
Budget
$50 million
Studio(s)
Paramount Pictures
Distributor(s)
Paramount Pictures