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    Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

    “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping”. That’s a great title for a film that contains many hilarious moments. It’s frequently stupid, goes for low-hanging fruits at least once every 20 minutes but you can’t argue with the results: funny is funny. And if you want a bit more substance in your comedy it has some moments of brilliance throughout too.

    Conner Friel a. k. a. Conner4Real (Andy Samberg) was meant to be a musical superstar, but his initial success is now far behind him. When his latest album receives universal negative reviews, he scrambles to regain popularity. His only hope may be to reconnect with the people that helped him get big in the first place, his childhood best friends, Owen (Jorma Taccone) and Lawrence (Akiva Schaffer)

    Every 5 to 10 years, a film like “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” is due. “Fear of a Black Hat” was all about the late 80’s, early 90’s hip-hop scene, “This is Spinal Tap” was about rock music. With every new generation of musicians, with each pop sensation that makes the headlines comes fresh material ripe to be used by comedians. Shoot your material like a documentary. Tweak real-life events and throw those in between testimonies from the biggest names in the music industry (you’ll see everyone from Mariah Carrey to Simon Cowell here) Space those out with some outlandish choices by the falling star, the kind that are so stupid you can’t believe it hasn’t been done, sprinkle in moments of pure, unadulterated stupid, the kind that can only come from sudden fame and millions and there you have it, “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” is ready to hit the big screen.

    What I enjoyed about the film is the central character. Conner is not a bright person, but he’s enthusiastic and passionate about what he does. The fact that he’s so misguided, egotistical, and thinks himself a modern day savant/thought-provoking poet means he’s always making one boneheaded decision after another. They keep getting worse and worse as he receives backlash for his tasteless choices and missteps. You like him and love to hate him at the same time. He’s like that friend of yours that is always getting into trouble but never actually hinders you in any way so you keep him around. It’s a joy to sit back and snigger as he realizes over and over that he’s fallen out of the frying pan, out of the fire and into the volcano.

    This is a film about a profoundly stupid person, but there’s intelligence in the way it’s written. It hits the ego, the excessive behavior and the masses’ reactions to a larger-than-life music sensation accurately. There’s a good mix of moments that are completely outlandish and others that feel genuine. But they’re not split evenly. There’s an escalation in the “action” of this film as Conner’s actions keep topping each other in the so-atrocious-you-can’t-help-but-look scale. It’s consistently funny. Sure it could have been funnier and there are some moments that generate smiles or chuckles instead of the big laughs that are intended, but you get more than your money’s worth during the 86 minute running time. Just long enough to get the joke, but not so extensive that it overstays its welcome.

    “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” (say the whole thing, every time) is not the funniest music faux documentary you’ll ever see, but there are few moments that don’t work. I laughed a lot. The lyrics to some of these songs are so misguided I’ve got to go back and listen to them again. Stick around for the end credits as well. There’s a scene midway through. (Theatrical version on the big screen, June 11, 2016)

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    adamwatchesmovies@  12.6.2016 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

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