Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

My Grade:  B-

8 Mile was a film about a fictional character played by Eminem who shared a lot of similar characteristics with the real life Eminem. He wasn’t playing himself in the film, but he sort of was. Well, think of Popstar as 8 Mile for The Lonely Island.

For those of you who don’t know, The Lonely Island is a comedic music group that featured heavily on "Saturday Night Live" and features cameos from artists of varying degrees of popularity in most of their satirical songs. The group is made up of Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer, and the one you’ve actually heard of:  Andy Samberg. 

The plot of the film follows Samberg’s character, Conner4Real, who becomes a big star for his work in The Style Boyz and, thus, leaves the other two “boyz” behind to start a lucrative solo career. He does take one of his bandmates (Owen) with him to be his DJ, but their other bandmate and friend (Lawrence) leaves the music business altogether because of a dispute with Conner4Real. As is to be expected in a movie like this, Conner4Real starts out on top of the world, then his second album bombs leaving him in a personal and emotional crisis. He learns the error of his ways and it’s all good at the end. Pretty standard stuff. 

What’s not standard are the laughs and solid, pointed satire of the music industry. These are things I expected from the film because of the quality of comedy The Lonely Island features in their songs. Sure, lots of jokes miss; but there are so many jokes throughout the film that many of them hit, too. It doesn’t get much funnier than Justin Timberlake’s cameos and it doesn’t get much more precise with it’s skewering of the music industry than the following:  “Nobody cares who writes it, they only care who performs it.” This is a sad but true indictment of the pop music industry. The number of artists who don’t write their own music is astounding; yet they get all the credit as an amazing artist.

While you will laugh a lot, Popstar never reaches the emotional depths that it strives for. It asks you to invest your feelings in Conner4Real even though he is a shallow, arrogant, bigoted idiot. It’s tough to really root for a character like that whose only honorable trait is his love for his sickly pet turtle. Without fully investing in his character, we can’t get too emotionally vested in the quest for reuniting these old friends who have drifted apart. The filmmakers really try to get you there, though. 

Overall, Popstar gives us exactly what we could hope for and expect from The Lonely Island:  raunchy laughs, smart satire, and lots of celebrity cameos (some much better than others). It unfortunately doesn’t offer any more than expected, though. A more likable character, layered supporting characters, and a real antagonist may have led to more emotional investment in the film making it something to remember. As it stands, it’s an easily forgettable film but is an entertaining hour and a half if you’re a fan of The Lonely Island’s music. The soundtrack is the best part.