Popstar: Célèbre à tout prix

The big question heading into "Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping" was whether The Lonely Island trio of Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer could make their brand of pop music humor work in a format that lasts longer than three minutes. Not surprisingly, it's in different three-minute clips that "Popstar" works best.

"Popstar" is a music mockumentary following a pretty standard faux biography structure: Conner4Real (Samberg) is a huge star who made it on his own after many of years of success as a member of the Nasty Boyz, a trio with his childhood best friends, Owen (Taccone) and Lawrence (Schaffer). The story predictably follows his rise and fall, narrating it with a host of cameos from actual music celebrities playing themselves as well as supporting characters.

Conner is an over-the-top caricature of the dumbest celebrity you can imagine, and Lonely Island makes sure that there's no element of his music or rise to fame that you take seriously. Ripping into pop music culture, however, isn't the movie's focus. It's a film about a music group because its creators' gimmick is musical comedy. The goal, presumably, was to create outrageous characters and scenarios, not create stinging satire.

"Popstar" opts for the machine gun style of comedy, unloading jokes in rapid succession knowing that if at least a majority of them stick, they've done their job. Ostensibly, that strategy works. A number of gags land and feel like rather original jokes, too. From a wolf attack to a wardrobe malfunction to an argument in a limo that's besieged by naked body parts, the sequences constructed with the intention of being funny often are, it's the wedged-in jokes that aren't centerpieces that fall flat.

Surprisingly, the comedy songs used in this movie aren't the highlights. Conner's single about equality in which the lyrics are all about how he's not gay even though he's singing about LGBTQ rights is pretty standard for Lonely Island. Fans of their music will be pleased, but the comedy really comes from the joke-writing and the occasional quick-witted dialogue exchanges.

Nothing about the plot is surprising or particularly clever, however, and knowing exactly what direction they're going to take the story within the first 10 minutes weighs down the ceiling for what "Popstar" could be. If more jokes missed than hit, this flaw would be abundantly apparent and have caused the whole movie to collapse.

The Lonely Island brand of cleverly packaged immature humor won't be a hit with everyone, but it definitely salvages "Popstar," at least enough that I can highly recommend the clips.

~Steven C

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This is my review of Popstar Never Stop Never Stopping (spoiler free)

**** (4/5)

Cast: Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer, Sarah Silverman, Tim Meadows

Plot: The life of superstar musician Conner4Real (Samberg) appears to be a charmed one, filled with groupies, screaming crowds and sacks of cash. But trouble is on the horizon in the form of a scheming rapper (Chris Redd), a disastrous merchandise deal and a swarm of killer bees.

The spirit of This is Spinal Tap looms large over the latest comedy from the Lonely Island Crew. Like Rob Reiner's masterpiece, it's a mockumentary and a fun one at that with laughs coming out of the whazoo. It follows three likable idiots as they navigate the choppy waters of the music biz. There is even an update of Tap's 'Sh*t Sandwich' scene, as Conner4Real (Andy Samberg in possibly his funniest role ever) checks out reviews of his new album: rather than showing a star rating, Rolling Stone awards it the poop emoticon. Happily, rather than coming off as a pale imitation, Popstar: Never Sop Never Stopping squeezes laughs out of its tale like juice from a plum. However if the music industry was silly in the 1980s this certainly shows how silly it was but it's even daft now, and Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer gleefully go to town sending up its absurdities. Conner4Real is an ear studded jackass, whose humongous entourage includes an eyebrow specialist, a scarf caddy (that's a real thing) and a guy who punches him in the nuts to remind where he came from.

Weirdly he has an army of personalized holograms that caper around the stage. Conner is a narcissist who uploads daily videos to Youtube, and who his best friend Owen (Taccone) to wear a deadmau5-like helmet that emits a terrifying light beacon and makes an ominous sound that is likely to deafen anybody that passes by. However Conner, is an attention seeker and there is nothing that he won't do to get attention – a trait that is consistently hilarious – and, given Miley's twerking and Kanye's tweet-based rants, it is all too plausible today. Hot Rod, which is the Lonely Island's film about a wannabe Evel Knievel, was at times hysterical, but lumbered with a weak narrative that really let it down. Popstar's set-up is simpler and more effective and won't fail to make you laugh. It turns out Conner4Real used to be just Conner, a decent guy who formed a boy band with Owen and his other buddy Lawrence (Schaffer) just because he wanted to see what it was like to be famous. When he got a taste for fame, he became a monster: Owen became his Dj-slave and Lawrence retired to a farm to whittle woodcarvings but unfortunately he hates that job but anything to get away from the monster.

The story, as Owen attempts to reunite The Style Boyz which was the name of Conner's boy band, hat bit is surprisingly engaging. What they have added to the film are the inspired cameos peppered throughout the film mainly from the worlds of music (Arcade Fire, Justin Timberlake, Seal) and comedy (Will Forte, Bill Hader oddly with very long hair), and finally both (Weird Al Yankovic). On a weird note there is also a penis, which if reports are to be believed, belongs to an A-list director. This is Spinal Tap, of course was pinned around several gloriously bad songs, but they were enjoyable much like this the music is stupid but it's enjoyable even if some of it is offensive. But This is Spinal Tap lampooned around different genres of music. And Lonely Island certainly know their stuff because they know their way around a big juicy hook, which is what a song needs as anyone who has watched their Saturday Night Live videos can attest. Highlights here include Finest Girl, a sex jam with relentless references to the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, and Equal Rights, a paean to gay marriage filled with assurances that the singer is heterosexual. The tunes in this movie are whip-smart, quick-witted and stupendously dumb but that's a good because the hook makes them catchy that you'll be singing the hits well after the credits roll.

In conclusion this is a quick-witted and well written comedy that will make you laugh out loud and even produce tears from your eyes. This is certainly a Lonely Island movie and probably one of the best of their movies it's completely relentless even the greatest comedy kings and queens will love it.

Verdict: An absolute blast, with a frenetic strike-rate and songs that will worm their way into your ears for days. Like Conner, this comedy's for real.

8/10 incredibly funny

The excessive world of modern pop is so soulless and pretentious, it's ripe picking for drama. The mental breakings of stars like Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson and others show an inherent flaw in how human beings are turned into oblivious money-making commodities, and then unceremoniously spit-out when their glimmer dies. Popstar, the brain child of the YouTube-turned-SNL stars The Lonely Island, touches on these things enough, but mostly it's just fantastic jokes. A timely and lightning-fast musical mockumentary, I could barely catch my breath from laughing. The story works as a parallel to the careers of the three Lonely Island guys themselves. Conner4Real (Samberg) is an international popstar who has grown beyond the popularity of his two Style Boyz partners (Taccone, Schaffer). While it uses that parallel effectively, it never becomes overbearing. Instead what shines are the original songs, a staple of these guys past endeavors, including their groundbreaking "SNL Digital Shorts" segments. Each one is an instant classic (i.e. "I'm So Humble", "Things in My Jeep"), played ridiculously as if they have influenced real musicians, many of whom make hilarious cameos. For those of you old enough to remember the comedy classic "Spinal Tap", this format may seem somewhat familiar. However, a distractingly blatant rip-off this is not. It uses its 30-year separation as a way to point out the modern massive difference between actual artistic influence and silly cultural nostalgia that permeates the musical landscape. And while it doesn't quite reach Spinal-Tap-heights of greatness, if you're looking for a perfect friends-night-out, this is a comedy you will be happy to visit and revisit over and again.

Look, I love Andy Samberg. But, his comedy just didn't carry the movie far enough for it to be good. But, I will say this movie is good to just watch with friends and not pay much attention to. But sitting down to watch it is just eh.

I am not in the target audience for "Popstar", as I am a guy in my 50s who has no interest in rap or anything written after about 1985. So, the fact that I enjoyed this is something...isn't it?!

In many ways, this film is very much like "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" as well as "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby"....along with a heaping helping of pop music and rap. Just like Ricky Bobby, Conner (Andy Samberg) goes from the top of the game to total loser very quickly...and only by learning humility and appreciating his friends can he once again be on top. And, like "Walk Hard", it's a mockumentary about the music industry...and it's very crude at times and has some genitalia. It is NOT a film for kids, that's for sure!

Overall, it's a clever an perceptive film...making fun of the stupid antics MANY modern musicians engage in as well as tickling your funny bone in the process. Enjoyable and worth seeing...provided you are an adult and have a relatively high threshold for the offensive.