To be sure, Andy Samberg is an acquired taste. However, with his brilliant work on the cop show parody “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” he’s shown himself to be a comic with not just crackerjack timing and the willingness to look the fool but an uncommonly smart writer as well, able to make you laugh at and reconsider the world we live in. So, it was with great hope that I went to see his latest work, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, an obvious swipe at Justin Bieber and his ilk. I was not disappointed, as Samberg, along with his partners Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, who complete the music parody group The Lonely Island, take no prisoners here, mercilessly skewering today’s pop idols, the work they produce and the clueless fans that gobble it up.
Shot as a mockumentary, Conner4Real (Samburg) says with no false modesty, “since I was born, I was dope.” He’s got the film footage to prove it, as we get a quick glimpse of him playing the drums at the age of one. His sort of musical genius can’t be contained, and as he gets older, he forms a boy band with his two best friends Lawrence (Schaffer) and Owen (Taccone). Calling themselves the Style Boyz, they rocket to the top of the charts with the singles “Karate guy,” “Donkey roll” and “Standing in front of buildings” – all of which contain wonderfully bad lyrics made funnier by the sincere nature in which they are sung. However, success proves too much for the trio, and when Connor starts his solo career, the band breaks up, leaving a great deal of animosity in his wake.
Conner’s success with his first album, Thriller, Also, leads to further rancor between him and his ex-friends, though industry veterans tout it as a groundbreaking work. (Mariah Carey identifies most with the single “I’m so humble” … think about it.) Thus, expectations are high for his second work, CONNquest, an album met with universal disdain which leads to a disastrous tour.
Clocking in at less than 90 minutes, directors Schaffer and Taccone never let the pace lag, hitting the audience with one clever gag after another, a wide number of them proving effective. Among the highlights are a costume-changing trick that leads to humiliation, Conner’s proposal to his girlfriend (Imogene Potts) involving wolves (which goes horribly wrong) and the defiling of a sacred, historical landmark.
Peppered throughout are cameos from the likes of Questlove, T.I., Snoop Dogg, Carrie Underwood, Ringo Starr, Adam Levine, Arcade Fire, A$AP Rocky and many, many more, all of them willing to play along with the gag, hailing Conner as a genius as they bite the hand that’s made them rich and famous. The participation of so many industry veterans lends an insider’s perspective and validity that makes the jokes even funnier. It’s impossible not to think of This is Spinal Tap or the documentary Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, as Conner is obviously based on him. Yet Popstar proves to be a natural extension of those two movies, as it carries on the mockumentary tradition of the first and so wonderfully parodies the latter.
As with any comedy, this is not for all tastes. If the song title “Turn up the beef” or another called “Equal rights,” in which Conner proclaims again and again that he’s not gay while espousing the right of everyone to marry, doesn’t strike you as funny, this will not be your cup of tea. However, once the surface is scratched, you’re likely to find that Popstar is far smarter than you might expect it to be. By setting their sights on U2, iTunes, music awards shows, techno music, DJ’s, entertainment news shows, fashion, illconceived gimmicks, corporate sponsorships and public media, Samberg, Schaffer and Taccone show there aren’t any sacred cows they won’t go out of their way to destroy. That they succeed in generating laughs while doing so is no surprise. That they do so in such an intelligent manner is.
Contact Chuck Koplinski at ckoplinski@usd116.org.
