Directed by: Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone
Written by: Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone
Starring: Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer, Sarah Silverman, Tim Meadows
Rating: [4/5]
Music stars have their ebbs and flows throughout their careers where they hit some inexplicable highs and fairly tawdry lows based on a plethora of personal or professional reasons. We’ve seen this played amongst many stories and biopics as a way to tell something quite inspirational. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping introduces this story type and fuses it with the irreverent humor of “The Lonely Island” to make for something absolutely hilarious and well-crafted as well.
Extremely popular pop star, Connor Friel also known as Connor4Real built a reputation for delivering fantastic music inspiring many recent artists. After a few certain controversies cause him to slip from his prominence, he must figure out what he must do next in order to get back to the top he has very much enjoyed sitting on.
Operating as a mockumentary-style film detailing the life of Conner Friel, this feature takes the issues many musical celebrities face but also seeks to mock them through the hilarity of this film. This film thus becomes a satire on the entire industry and how much individuals bow down to these egotistical individuals even if they display some glaring faults in need of addressing. In this satirization, the feature does unravel some truths but does so in such a hilarious way, which can be expected when eliciting the services of The Lonely Island trio as they deliver yet another banger.
Following the hilarious Hot Rod, the group puts together yet another fun idea in crafting a comedic film allowing them to flex their muscles, but also in the case of this feature, the musical. Known on Saturday Night Live for the music videos they would craft, getting to unleash a whole host of Connor4Real songs with all of its idiocy was such a fun time. The songs make absolutely no sense, run ironically to the individual singing them, and yet all make complete sense for what these creatives wanted to craft for their story. From “I’m So Humble” and “Equal Rights,” each of these songs absolutely left me in stitches on their ridiculousness with the absurd idea anyone sees him as this genius. They even incorporate interviews with individuals like ASAP Rocky, Akon, DJ Khaled, Simon Cowell, and a whole host of famous individuals to speak on his greatness only further adding to the absurdity of the story.
This absurdity, of course, serves as the entire point of what occurs in this feature as it highlights the phenomenon of these pop stars and how they treat others and receive deference not bestowed upon others because of their perceived musical talent. It allows someone like Connor to perpetually grow this heightened ego ever-inflating to the point of popping, which will eventually cause tension for the people around him when they begin to rub him the wrong way. It all comes as the learning curve Connor must experience as he needs to learn to appreciate the contributions of others even if it involves taking some of the shine off of himself, which would certainly represent some intense growth for Connor based upon his current way of looking at the world.
In order to sell Connor as a character, we get a tremendous performance by Andy Samberg amongst a wonderful set of supporting actors. Samberg, in particular, absolutely owns this character and all of the absurdities that come with him. He perfectly encapsulates the utter selfishness on display by the guy and how it impacts everyone around him with no sense of care or self-awareness. Even with all of the issues stemming from Connor’s view of life, Samberg manages to make him very likable because you just know the guy has a good heart within all of the nonsense. Samberg certainly presents that throughout his performance allowing for some audiences would hate if not played by someone who could manage the complexity of Conoor, which feels hilarious to write. Playing a character with this sort of demeanor comes as nothing new for Samberg as he embodies this demeanor in much of his The Lonely Island music videos but now he has the opportunity to do this in a full feature film, which certainly does not disappoint.
A whole bushel of fun from beginning to end, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping utilizes its mockumentary style to deliver some hard truths about the industry and the individuals upholding abhorrent behavior, but also makes fun of it in such an entertaining way. We get a slew of highly glossy music videos delivering some equally terrible and entertaining songs sung by this pop star, which simply encapsulates everything about this guy in some style. A type of irreverent and childish sense of humor that displays everything that makes Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Shaffer national treasures who should be protected at all costs and receive the praise they assuredly deserve.
Films with Josh 
