POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING (B)

I almost never stopped always laughing.  Almost.  SNL alum, Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island comedy crew (Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer) – creators of SNL Digital Shorts for Jack Sparrow, I’m on a Boat and D*** in a Box (to name a few) bring us this mockumentary documenting the rise and fall of a fictional music icon.  It’s a goofily vulgar lampooning of modern day pop and its many colorful personalities.  Powered purely on the pitfall force of misguided egocentricity, Popstar boasts a number of brilliant moments that never fully gel to make it a comedy for the ages.  It’s got its fair share of great, good and semi-flat moments.  It’s also quite hard to watch without pondering how exquisitely writer/director/actor Christopher Guest and his dead-pan band of brothers created the original mock-music masterpiece This is Spinal Tap.  Where Popstar always seems to be written to support it’s often times tonally toe-tapping and hilariously knee-slapping soundtrack, Spinal Tap’s jams seem born of and inherent to the story they were trying to tell.  Spinal Tap feels always organic while Popstar feels occasionally forced.  Don’t get me wrong, Popstar is still funny as hell.  It’s more often than not a brilliantly boisterous blitzkrieg of buffoonery – a film that lands a cavalcade of sardonic jabs and uppercuts.  But when it’s not being witty it’s usually being flat – sometimes desperately trying to manufacturer the slightest bit of connective tissue in its scant, sub-90 minute running time.  Destined, one would think, to become a popular hit among the university set (but possibly never a cult classic), Popstar – with its solid laughs, many cameos and impressive satirical swipe at the industry – should rise fairly high up the charts. 

Starring: Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer, Sarah Silverman, Tim Meadows and Chris Redd

Directed by: Jorma Taccone (MACGRUBER) and Akiva Schaffer (HOT ROD and THE WATCH) 

Rated: R

Running time: 1hr. 26min.

Story: Go behind the scenes as singer/rapper Conner4Real (Samberg) faces a crisis of popularity after his sophomore album flops, leaving his fans, sycophants and rivals all wondering what to do when he's no longer the dopest star of all. 

Website: www.popstarmovie.com