In 2007, The Lonely Island, a group of incredibly talented performers made up of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, made Hot Rod, a shockingly funny comedy that tanked at the box office but found the fan base it deserves on home video and cable. Now comes their next film, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, a film that made me laugh so hard so often, I feared my jaw dropping off spontaneously multiple times during my screening.
This is a slam dunk of a mockumentary about Conner4Real (Samberg,) an arrogant, egotistical, maniacal pop star who leaves his band, The Style Boyz to pursue a solo career. He becomes successful, with former band mate Owen (Taccone) playing as his DJ and other former band mate Lawrence (Schaffer) out of the picture. Conner even has a manager (Tim Meadows) and many others who act as his confidence boosters. However, his newest album doesn't connect with audiences and through a series of shenanigans, he even becomes hated on a personal level by many people. With everything looking down, Conner needs to find a way to revive himself.
What really, really, really works here is Samberg. This is definitely his movie. I mean that not only in the fact that he completely owns this role but also in that if you are not sold on him yet, this is not the film to win you over. For people like myself who love Samberg's style of humor, this is something to behold. He injects Conner with such arrogance that it's refreshing when the pop star shows his kind side and his delivery of a man who must be loved by everyone is consistently pitch perfect. As written and performed, this is likely to become a beloved comedy character. There is also a lot of clever and hilarious stabs at the music business, from the fact that awards shows are taken too seriously to the fact that a lot of musicians will forever grasp onto that one hit to out of touch musicians who write "message songs" about issues that have already been resolved. All of these bits are done in a way that not only makes you laugh but also brings up some good points.
The mockumentary style is also very cleverly used. It provides a realism that makes the satire all the more hilarious. The fact that Conner4Real is presented, with a straight face, as a real person makes him even more absurd and funny, mostly because you know musicians like this do exist. Also, cameos from real musicians discussing him as if he influenced them is often very funny (although some more than others.)
The film does have a few problems, however. Although a good amount of the real life cameos are clever and funny, there are just too many. Just like in Zoolander 2, some of them just fall flat. It's not funny to simply say "look, it's celebrity A and they're right near celebrity B." There has to be context with the celebrity's role, which this film does often enough that it's disappointing when it really doesn't work for others. Also, not every single joke in the film sticks. Just like Airplane!, this film throws so many jokes at you, you're likely to find something that doesn't work for you. For me, a scene with the usually hilarious Maya Rudolph fell completely flat from start to finish. But the fact that I can only really think of one small bit that didn't work for me shows just how much works here.
The jokes stick too much and with such precision that it's impossible not to highly, highly, highly recommend. There are a few jokes that had me literally falling out of my seat from laughter. For me, a scene with Bill Hader and a running gag involving wacko paparazzi are the prime examples of that. It may not be a flawless film but I'd be shocked if Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping doesn't end up being the funniest and most clever film of 2016. Now I just hope The Lonely Island doesn't wait another nine years to release their next film!
(4 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for some graphic nudity, language throughout, sexual content and drug use.)
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