Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Believe it or not, I was actually about to make the newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film the one that I went to this weekend.

I thought the trailers for Andy Samberg and The Lonely Island's latest foray into comedy looked atrocious. Sure I had a mild chuckle here and there but overall the trailers for Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping looked like a SNL skit that was probably 60 minutes too long.

Popstar is basically an SNL skit, but I should have known better than to bet against Samberg and his singing trio. Hotrod (probably another film I should Retro Review) still remains hilarious to this day, Samberg is consistently a riot on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Lonely Island's music is also consistently funny. Throw in producer Judd Apatow and perhaps I judged a book [read: movie] too much by its cover [read: trailer], and I actually applaud Popstar for not ruining its best moments in the trailers.

Because there are certainly many of them. In an odd, but much appreciated, very strong year for comedies, Popstar is yet another solid collection of laughs in what's been a very funny 2016.

Popstar is a mockumentary on singing/performing sensation, Connor 4 Real (stage name). He's a solo artist that once used to be in a group, the Style Boyz, aka the other Lonely Island members, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer (who are also co-directors). What starts out as an obvious, and most deserved skewer of Justin Bieber, quickly turns into a roast of the entire industry through the zany eyes of Samberg. Bieber should certainly feel the most uncomfortable watching this movie as Connor, and probably Kanye too, but who knows with both of their egos. Either way, Popstar does a solid job at mocking the entire industry while not being outright savage about it. Like most comedies, if you don't like the comedian, you're not likely to enjoy the film. Samberg and The Lonely Island are often a blend of dumb, low brow humor that sometimes is much smarter than you may realize. If that's never been your thing, or if you hated Hotrod, then Popstar is likely not for you.

You have to know. He's NOT gay.

Jazz hands!

The story, while predictable, is well thought out in the mockumentary platform and there are moments when you can tell that Samberg and Co. really want to make a point across and are being genuine about their intentions. The ending is touching, and along the way we see Connor 4 Real ride the industry wave with "really high highs" and "really low lows". Although it's a comedy, I imagine this could be used as a pretty stark warning to all those who are famous to not be a douche bag *cough Johnny Manziel cough cough*.

From a comedy standpoint, Popstar is often hilarious, and stupid quite a bit of the time. It's typical Lonely Island which means that quantity and quality of jokes are constantly battling against one another. Far more jokes hit their mark than not, but there are some that miss the mark too. Popstar is at its best when it takes the zaniness down a level and feels like a real-ish documentary; when we get to see into the dumb psyche of Connor. Its packed full of celebrity cameos AND celebrity appearances as people like Nas, Usher, DJ Khaled, Ringo Starr, etc. are enlisted to discuss how successful Connor is and what not. Hearing Nas, an incredibly influential rapper, say things like, "my life began when I saw Connor perform for the first time" and be completely dead-pan about it is priceless and funnier than many people may realize. There are also a few cameos, one of which should have been obvious to me...but it's hilarious. A few weeks ago I cited Neighbors 2 for its gross-out gags as being one of that film's few Cons, but in Popstar there is a single gross-out gag that's so hilarious, it actually became one of the film's highlights for me and I can't even imagine what it must have been like to film it.

Samberg is clearly the star of the film and I continue to like him more and more. Looking back at the last half decade or more, he's been one of the most consistently funny comedians that we have today and I appreciate that he can do it in different ways: TV, music, and film. The rest of the cast does a good job and I'd give the "second place" trophy to either Jorma Taccone (who was also hilarious in Hotrod) or Tim Meadows as the group/Connor's manager. Sarah Silverman was the only underwhelming part of the movie for me as her script wasn't nearly as funny as it should have been given that, you know...it's Sarah Silverman. Her performance is fine, but I think she only made me laugh one, maybe two times.

Oh. Now I see why you made this movie Andy...

I'm not often guilty of it, but I certainly am when it comes to Popstar. You shouldn't judge a movie by its trailer. Given all the successful people incorporated with Popstar I should've known better, but consider this a lesson learned! Popstar is likely every bit as stupid as you think it is, but it's likely much, much funnier than you were anticipating and if I'm being completely honest, it's great to see this industry and some of the ego-maniacs within it get torn up. It may not amount to much more than an extended SNL skit, but had this been on SNL, it likely would have been one of their better skits in years.

CONS:

• Handful of jokes/scenes that don't quite hit their mark
• Seems afraid to really, really call out anyone in specific...could have been a slightly more biting satire
• Some cameos work better than others and parts of the script work better for some actors/actresses than others
• It's already a short film, but several scenes could have been cut as they don't do much for the film

PROS:

• Far funnier than the trailers indicated. It's stupid fun most of the time, but still hilarious
• Does a good job at mocking particular people in the industry and the industry as a whole
• Expert roast on TMZ. I was losing it
• One absolutely perfect cameo and a handful of other really funny ones
• Somewhat forgotten in the release of the film but we basically get a new Lonely Island album out of this. "Bin Laden" was probably my favorite new song
• Surprisingly touching story, even if it's a bit predictable
• Mocumentary style
• Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer are all great as is most of the other cast/celebrities
• The gross-out gag
• Another very funny comedy to add to an already lengthy list in 2016

Rath's Review Score: 8/10