Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping Review

Popstar takes aim at the most popular of musical aspects these days attempting to capture the best of the industry and throw a comedic spin on it. Starring Andy Samberg as Connor you get to see his rise to the top of stardom from humble beginnings with his close group of DJ Owen (Jorma Taccone) and Lyricit Lawrence (Akiva Schaffer) to the peak of being a solo artist.

This is a story told many times in media how the one member rises above the other and after his first album Connor is riding really high. He's got a large core group of staff which I would have liked to see some additional smaller bits of and they of course create the image of this legend.

Things do begin to spiral downwards after the release of his second solo album and this documentary type movie covers the effects of that disaster. It's filled with great moments of taking stabs at the industry while also piling in some awesome cameos to create a good interview type aspect to it. I felt it really did do a great job of not only covering the entire path of an artist, but it also provided a solid story as well instead of just being a simple comedic venture.

Building on that it was also a very fun movie to watch with many great laughs throughout the entirety of the film. The film's core strength was definitely near the start with some absolutely hilarious jokes and events, it didn't carry entirely through yet I still found strong moments after that as well.

The main cast was definitely hilarious and I loved Connor's supporting group including Harry the Manager (Tim Meadows) who had some good side comments; Paula the Publicist (Sarah Silverman) with strong actual key story components and Hunter (Chris Redd) the crazy other star that the new youth love.

It was also a very practical film without too many crazy effects so I have no issues with the technical aspects of the film being pleased with that. The acting was generally great hitting all the right comedic notes and being dead serious when needed for extra laughs. The cinematography was also quite decent most of the time finding the right angled shots for a stage show and truly capturing that documentary style you'd expect for "about the musician" segments.

The Conclusion

Popstar was definitely the best comedy I've seen in quite awhile and the best comedy of the year. I was very impressed with the roster of actors with Andy Samberg once again nailing his role as he's doing a top notch job in comedy recently and the cameos were also hilarious most of the time.

While it doesn't deliver on every bit it does provide a strong laugh when it does and I appreciated they actually created a story to go well with the film. The songs were also well done matching current singles with some mocking aspects and even being better than most of what I hear on the radio these days. I'd highly suggest checking this one out as it's sure to get some great laughs as we sure know this industry needs some comedic comments on it.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping at Theater with Standard Viewing
Screening Provided by NBC Universal

Rating Overall: 8.0