Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Directed by: Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone
Written by: Andy Samberg & Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone
Starring: Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer, Tim Meadows, Chris Redd, Sarah Silverman, Imogen Poots, Edgar Blackmon, James Buckley, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader, Will Arnett, Joan Cusack
Comedy/Music - 86 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 1 June 2016
Written by: Andy Samberg & Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone
Starring: Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer, Tim Meadows, Chris Redd, Sarah Silverman, Imogen Poots, Edgar Blackmon, James Buckley, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader, Will Arnett, Joan Cusack
Comedy/Music - 86 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 1 June 2016
The mockumentary is a well established comedy sub-genre thanks to This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, and even Borat. Coming off as a natural successor is Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, a satire of contemporary ‘popumentaries’ praising such teen idols as Justin Bieber and One Direction. Written, directed, and starring the members of The Lonely Island by way of Saturday Night Live, Popstar is a comedy most fulfilling when directly skewering its pop culture targets than when it fills gaps through traditional plot mechanisms.
Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer met in junior high and figured out their roles and rapport along the way to all getting hired onto SNL in 2005 at the same time, Samberg as a cast member and Taccone and Schaffer as writers. Since then, the trio created three albums worth of comedy songs, became infamous for their ‘Digital Short’ segments on SNL, “Dick in A Box” being their most famous, and now launch their first feature film together. Samberg (Celeste & Jesse Forever) has appeared in many films already and Taccone and Schaffer are no strangers to the big screen as both have directed feature films; 2012’s The Watch for Schaffer and 2010’s MacGruber for Taccone.
Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer met in junior high and figured out their roles and rapport along the way to all getting hired onto SNL in 2005 at the same time, Samberg as a cast member and Taccone and Schaffer as writers. Since then, the trio created three albums worth of comedy songs, became infamous for their ‘Digital Short’ segments on SNL, “Dick in A Box” being their most famous, and now launch their first feature film together. Samberg (Celeste & Jesse Forever) has appeared in many films already and Taccone and Schaffer are no strangers to the big screen as both have directed feature films; 2012’s The Watch for Schaffer and 2010’s MacGruber for Taccone.
Schaffer and Taccone co-direct Popstar working alongside producer Judd Apatow who may be the most successful comedic director of the past decade. Shot in the style of The Office and Modern Family, where characters interrupt the action by answering off screen questions, Popstar charts the rise and fall of Conner (Samberg), who goes by the stage name Conner4Real. Conner, Lawrence, and Owen, played respectively by Schaffer and Taccone were once in a hip-hop group called the Style Boyz before Conner broke up the group by going solo.
Popstar’s comedy fits well in our reality show infested and social media saturated pop culture environment. The popumentary aspect of it does more than mock the Biebers and Kardashians of the world, it shows us what one of these ‘films’ would look like if the subject’s career went to shit at the same time. Conner is releasing his second album and now that Lawrence, who used to write the lyrics, is gone, and Owen, relegated to DJ in the back, is no longer on the beats, the album is set up to fail unbeknownst to Conner who believes it will be considered one of the greatest albums of all time.
I wonder if The Lonely Island are working out real world anxieties in this film because their situation is quite similar to The Style Boyz. Samberg was the SNL on screen cast member and catapulted to stardom while Schaffer and Taccone remain mostly unknown. What the trio remain adept at are the catchy mock rap songs they generate. Conner belts out “Fuck Me Like We Fucked Bin Laden” just as earnest as any N’Sync song and wryly mocks Macklemore with the song “Equal Rights” about the quest for gay marriage legalization. It’s funny because Conner has no idea gay marriage is legal now and he spends most of the song repeating how straight he is even though being gay is ok for some people.
These songs are not direct parodies of what Bieber pushes out there or the latest Drake song; they are genre satires. They sound close enough to the real thing where we would not be surprised to hear these beats on the radio if the lyrics were not so outrageous. Popstar’s beginning is very strong with a string of A-list celebrity cameos establishing how famous Conner is and what an inspiration his music has been. Questlove, Carrie Underwood, Nas, Usher, Simon Cowell and perhaps a dozen more extol his virtues. A former Beatle even shows up to say, “Doink de Doink,” one of Conner’s catchphrases. Conner sums it up with, “Ever since I was born, I was dope.”
Popstar falls flatter during its continuous stage numbers and a few sections which feel like SNL skits pasted into a larger context. There is an unfortunate marriage proposal marred by a pack of wolves and a wardrobe malfunction leaving the world guessing at Conner’s genital status. Following the predictable rise and fall arc of a celebrity, there are no surprises where Popstar is headed, but frequent one-liners, hysterical montages, and a steady drip of cameos keeps the audience engaged. The whole package reminds me of the Saved by the Bell episode where Zack Morris broke up the band to go solo and slowly realizes his mistakes just in time to redeem himself and the group. I say as long as egomaniacal corporate automatons continue to act doe-eyed and serious in front of millions of screaming adolescents ready to sacrifice themselves at the alter of Bieber, groups such as The Lonely Island may employ them as a springboard for laughs. Go get ‘em guys.
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