Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

“Popstar” has more going for it than outrageousness, though it certainly has that. It has genuine outrage, a good-humored but clear-eyed take on today’s pop culture as a morass of corruption, idiocy and relentless self-promotion.

It doesn’t matter that the plot is predictable, because it’s merely a means for getting from one precise (and hilarious) musical parody to the next.

Among the many things it does well — from hilariously quotable lines to catchy, albeit obscene, songs — the mockumentary Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping has found the best use for the poop emoji yet.

Samberg and company are keen observers of pop culture and every facet of its insanity, doing their very best to out-size that which already feels larger than logic. They don’t always succeed, but when they do, it’s more than worth it.

Although this might have been considered cutting edge 20 or 30 years ago, it has been done so often in recent years that it feels a little tired.

I’d see a whole film about the adventures of Hader’s desperate-for-transcendence roadie. Unlike Popstar, it might actually go somewhere.

There’s a problem with Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. It’s attempting to mock something that is beyond mockery.

The best and most hilarious comedy of the year 2016! I am huge fan of mockumentary comedies and this one has to be the most hilarious one ever. It's a must-see comedy for everyone.

Popstar: Never Stop Popping is the latest concoction from musical comedy trio The Lonely Island. Telling the story of rapper Conner4Real and his past membership with the rap group The Style Boyz, Popstar is a mockumentary musical comedy akin to This Is Spinal Tap. Similar to that 1980s comedy classic, Popstar offers an insightful look at the music industry and the bloated ego that comes along with it for many stars. At the end of the day though, Popstar often feels like an elongated Lonely Island Youtube video that is not funny enough to justify the length. Never laugh out loud funny, Popstar offers many chuckles and is largely irreverent enough to be entertaining, but never truly reaches the comedic heights could have aspired to touch. Starring Andy Samberg as Conner4Real, Samberg turns in his typical brand of comedy with Conner4Real being an idiot and self-absorbed guy who is treated as a legend of the music industry. Alongside him are the rest of The Lonely Island group as well as a wealth of former SNL actors such as Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, Kevin Nealon, Tim Meadows, Joan Cusack, and Will Forte. All starring in largely small roles (other than Meadows), these characters do add a lot in terms of comedic talent to this film. In particular, Bill Hader's small role as a guitar technician for Conner that enjoys "flatlining" is hysterical and the type of dumb, silly comedy to be expected from a film of this sort. Through The Lonely Island, there is obviously great chemistry and comedic ability between the trio. This often comes to light, but never amounts to hilarity and simply relies upon silly lines and small visual gags that elicit laughs, but are fleeting and non-substantial. When compared to the best comedies of the year thus far, such as The Nice Guys, Love & Friendship, or Ghostbusters (sue me), Popstar's laughs are more inconsistent. Many jokes do fall flat and the film can go long stretches where there are apparent joke attempts simply through the absurdity of the situations, but many do not land. Compared to those best films, the film's dialogue is a lot goofier and takes itself less seriously, but has less of a comedic pay-off. Now, of course, this is not to say Popstar is not funny. The random humor of The Lonely Island does appeal to me, but simply does not lend itself to being a full film due to the hit-and-miss nature of this style of comedy. Fortunately, when it does hit, it is funny and when it does miss, it is not eye-rollingly bad or lame. Instead, it is simply a joke that did not work as well and the film offers so many of them along the way, it is easy to look past bad jokes and still get a lot of enjoyment out of the film. As for its portrayal of the music industry, Popstar's storyline is pretty typical and does not offer a unique perspective, but it is an entertaining and informative look at the life of a popstar who blew up beyond the scope of his former groupmates. Becoming conceited and self-absorbed, Conner4Real discounts his past friends and looks down upon them and becomes obsessed with his success alone. This certainly has a negative impact on his own success and he is forced to recognize he did not reach these heights alone. Clearly, this is not unique, but the backstage look at the pop industry and camaraderie that can exist between performers in the industry is fun and says a lot about the current state of the music industry and its reliance upon concerts and social media. In this way, it does often function similar to This Is Spinal Tap, but updates it for the modern age and, in this way, it is a worthy contender with the comedy classic as both offer an engaging look at the state of the industry. An overall middling comedy, Popstar: Never Stop Popping offers a lot of jokes that either hit or miss, but the hits are low and the misses are often only slightly off-the-mark. Thus, it is neither hysterical or appallingly unfunny. Instead, it is simply middle-of-the-road entertainment that largely positively rides on the shoulders of the comedic and charismatic talent it presents to the audience. The end result of that being an enjoyable and brisk hour and a half that more than entertains.

This movie has a lot of really funny moments and some great songs. However, there are certainly some jokes, particularly in the third act, that didn't work. It's a solid story that feels irritating in some points and the documentary film style wasn't that consistent, but it was overall pretty enjoyable.

Saw this movie in theatres, movie wasn't great. Bad acting, was one or two funny moments. Not worth seeing. The camera work was a little weird, bad shots. Wouldn't see it again.

Of course Amanda Krupp would like this... Why does this movie actually have a cult following? Seriously, I'm stumped! Although I admit "F--K Bin Laden was kinda cool."