Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

I truly was expecting more out of this movie. Based on Andy Samberg's strong recent outputs in Brooklyn 99 his performance was a little light in this film. Although packed with cameos, it was a derivative and scripted. I do admit certain parts had me chuckling. The song parodies are still strong and a highlight of the movie, but the plot was easily discernible. I realize that heavy plot twists were not expected in an offering of this type, but a good story is still a good story and it lacked in this aspect. Any Lonely Island fans might enjoy the music and a few light guffaws. I still prefer Samberg in "Hot Rod" over this film.

If you understand Lonely Island you will love this movie. It may not be for everyone, however I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. If you don't know what Lonely Island is google them and watch them on youtube. This movie perfectly set the stage for a world were the lonely island crew had massive fans, but in reality their fanbase is rather small.

Still the movie has massive laughs, the references are on point, and some of the songs are actually pretty good parodies of other genres.

I give the movie a solid 9 out of 10. If I wasn't a Lonely Island fan I would still give it at least a solid 7. It's entertaining and fun, and a nice divergence from the Super Hero dominated world we have today.

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.

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.

For a satire like this to work, it needs to have its heart in the right place. I was hesitant when watching the trailers, but fortunately the film doesn't lose track of the bigger humanization with these characters and it wears its heart on its sleeve. But perhaps that's also why it didn't go as far as it could have gone, and when all is said and done, perhaps plays things a little too safely. Still, it's vastly entertaining and the performances are aces. Andy Samberg excels at the comedy but also on making the lead a very likable protagonist, no mater his flaws. It's very easy to root for him. As a whole, definitely go seek this out and recommend it to your friends. Very underrated film that deserved to be bigger.