The music industry is absurd. It’s been that way for ages, only intensified by the dawn of social media, autotune and autobiographical documentaries about 21-year old pop stars. Thus, it’s an easy target for parody.
With Popstar: Don’t Stop Never Stopping, The Lonely Island (the comedic trio of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone) have taken a well-trodden path through mockumentary territory, while delivering a consistently enjoyable film dense with their familiar sensibility.
Popstar follows the life of “Connor4Real” (Samberg), an amalgamation of Justin Bieber, Macklemore and all five members of One Direction. A former boy band star gone solo, the film charts his world tour as a struggling sophomore album digs into his wildly inflated ego. Schaffer and Taccone (who also directed the film) play the scorned members of Connor’s former group, the Style Boyz. But as one may expect, the story is little more than an excuse to string together a series of outlandish comedic beats, celebrity cameos, and catchy pop songs (covering topics from gay rights, to fucking a girl “like the US Government fucked Bin Laden”).
The Lonely Island broke into the mainstream on Saturday Night Live, with a series of Digital Shorts that came to define an entire generation of the iconic sketch show. Hits like “I’m On a Boat,” “Jizz In My Pants,” and “Jack Sparrow” brilliantly mixed brash, idiotic humor with genuinely catchy beats for hilarious earworms. The music of Popstar is mostly up to snuff, feeling very musically similar to past Lonely Island releases with a touch of modern pop flare. The film is never afraid to take a moment and let the songs speak for themselves, boasting nearly full-length music videos and concert snippets to get the joke across.
When the comedy is non-musical, the trio falls back on many of the same tricks to keep the laughs coming. The film is a parade of cameos (it’s possible more people in the credits are credited as themselves than as characters), both from the world of music and comedy. It’s overwhelming, yet often works in the film’s favor by rounding out a small cast with ceaseless appearances from bigger stars. Some jokes occasionally rely upon the appearance of celebrities as punchlines, which prove effective in the theater, but may tire out on subsequent viewings. Regardless, the gags come fast and hard and hit on the mark more often than not.
Sometimes recommending a film is as easy as pointing to an artist’s past work, and saying “If you like that, see this.” If you’ve ever cracked a smile at one of The Lonely Island’s many past offerings, Popstar will have something for you to love.
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping hits theaters nationwide on June 3.
Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @ChrisBerg25