Review: Popstar – Never Stop Never Stopping

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping poster Rating: 6.7/10 (67,827 votes)
Director: Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone
Writer: Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone
Stars: Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer
Runtime: 87 min
Rated: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music
Released: 03 Jun 2016
Plot: When it becomes clear that his solo album is a failure, a former boy band member does everything in his power to maintain his celebrity status.

In the beginning there was Spinal Tap…. No, scratch that.  Before Tap there was The Rutles… No, scratch that.  The origins of the music mockumentary can be seen as far back as Hard Days Night, which told a fictional account of seven days in the life of The Beatles.  However, to date Spinal Tap is the one which stands out as the pinnacle of the genre, perfectly encapsulating the genre it mocks so lovingly, whilst being curiously absurd and hilarious to boot.  Following that we have seen other musical genres tackled in films such as Fear of a Black Hat and CB4 for rap, or A Mighty Wind for folk music.  Now, the Lonely Island trio of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone bring their skills to film in this wry stab at boy band and ‘Bieber-esque’ pop and antics.

The Style Boyz were a young male trio who were a huge hit worldwide, but over time the press and media focused the spotlight on Connor (Samberg), pushing the other friends aside, which eventually led to a rift in the band.  Connor rebranded himself as Connor4Real and launched an initially successful solo career.  However, the mockumentary picks up just as he prepares to launch his latest album, Connquest, which is also the point at which his ego has pushed him too far in his antics, and with nobody around to dissuade him, his lyrics have taken a strange turn.  Over the course of the film we see the highs and lows of stardom, as Connor continues to alienate his closest friends, loses his fanbase, and discovers the fickle nature of stardom.

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Fans of The Lonely Island will have a lot to love here.  The music is pure LI, hilariously brilliant, whilst almost borderline offensive.  Samberg’s infectious nature carries the film along brilliantly, and even when Connor is being his most obnoxious, he’s played with a naive innocence that makes you actually feel sympathy for him.  The comedy is balanced well, some quite subtle moments are contrasted by some more bizarre (the Daft Punk inspired helmet being a beautiful combination of both subtle and surreal), and the cast all sell it as straight as possible, despite the zaniness.  A scattering of celebrities playing themselves helps ground the film, and allows them to offer some wry satire about their own careers at the same time.  By the time we get to Seal singing whilst some trained wolves sit nearby, you can almost believe some of the events are real.

In a year in which the comedies have felt a little lacking, Popstar is a welcome riff on the current music scene, and has a running time that ensures it doesn’t outstay its welcome.  A joy to watch from the offset, this may not be quite in the same league as Spinal Tap, but it’s quite close.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9RoNzJrmDo

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