Review // Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

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Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is the hilarious feature film screenwriting debut of comedy group, The Lonely Island. After becoming internet famous in the early days of YouTube, the trio comprised of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone went on to regular fame as the creators of Saturday Night Live’s Digital Shorts. Perfecting the art of catchy, funny songs that poked fun at pop culture, they produced the viral hits “D*ck in a Box”, “I’m on a Boat” and “Yolo”. It seems fitting that their first feature continues in the vein of pop music parody.

A twist on the recently popular music documentaries for pop sensations like Justin Beiber and One Direction, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping follows the fictional pop singer and international celebrity Conner4Real (Samberg) as his highly anticipated sophomore album tanks and he deals with the possibility that his time in the limelight has come to an end. As Conner deals with his personal crisis he is forced to reflect on how his actions have hurt the people that were important to him before the fame, his Style Boyz band mates Owen (Taccone) and Lawrence (Schaffer).

The trio co-wrote the script, and Samberg took the lead while Taccone and Scaffer co-directed. They perform impeccably and released their fourth album in support of the film. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping features a deep supporting cast including Sarah Silverman, Tim Meadows, Imogen Poots, and Chris Redd. It also boasts too many cameos to list that are comprised of music legends, pop stars and funny people.

One part mockumentary, one part character study and one part buddy comedy, the film is littered with the short form content that made Lonely Island popular without losing sight of the big picture – a cohesive, well told story featuring lots of laughs. It’s a funny film where all the good parts aren’t actually in the trailer. Watch the movie, have a good time, embrace your inner CONNfidante.

Just to keep with the mockumentary theme, I went ahead and reviewed Conner4Real’s doc as well.

Conner4Real has been a household name for years, ever since The Style Boyz first landed on the scene back in the 90s and revolutionized hip hop culture. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping takes fans behind the scenes of one the most epic modern music moments.

Originally pitched as a way to chronicle the success of Conner’s sophomore album CONNquest, directors Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone stumbled on documentary gold when the album tanked. Now, they take you behind the CMZ headlines and expose what was really happening when the Style Boyz broke up and when Conner’s career went belly up.

Popstar takes us behind the headlines of some of Conner’s biggest disasters including his relationship with actress Ashley Wednesday, the onstage gimmicks that tanked his tour and the notorious Aquaspin campaign. Very few behind the music docs are there at the critical moments when a star implodes but Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping captures that and so much further.

The music industries finest (Usher, Carrie Underwood, Simon Cowel and Mariah Carrie) dissect the rise and fall of one of their own in Popstar. While some might chalk up the success of Popstar to just two guys being in the right place at the right (or wrong) time, that should not detract from the important musical documentary they made. Whether you’re a fan of The Style Boys, Conner4Real or not, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is a slice of pop culture history that is not to be missed.

Reviewed by Vithiya Murugadas.