Popstar: Never Stop
Never Stopping is uproariously funny, original, and unfortunately, an enormous
flop at the box office. Tellingly, Neighbors
2, the sequel to a decent 2014 comedy, made slightly more in its third weekend
($4.9 million) than Popstar in its
opening one ($4.7 million).
But before we discuss what went wrong at the box office,
let’s talk about why the movie itself worked.
Conner4Real (Andy Samberg) is an amalgamation of modern
music. Specifically, there’s a touch of Justin Bieber (as the film’s subtitle alludes),
Macklemore (the hysterical “Equal Rights” song), and the Beastie Boys (Conner’s
former star-making trio, The Style Boyz). The general 2016 music tropes are hilariously
parodied too, including catch phrases, dance-craze songs (“The Donkey Roll”),
gratuitously sexual lyrics, narcissism, an aggressive preference for youth, and
guest stars galore. Adam Levine, Pink, Seal, LINKIN PARK, Michael Bolton, and
even actress Emma Stone provide background singing on the hysterical soundtrack,
which I’ve been essentially listening to on a loop the past few days. Not only
are the lyrics funny, the songs are so well produced that you could fool your
friends into thinking “Turn Up The Beef” is a top-40 hit.
Most know Samberg as the face of Saturday Night Live’s popular “Digital Shorts”. Far fewer know the
other Lonely Island comedy trio members, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer,
Samberg’s childhood friends who directed and co-wrote Popstar with Samberg. Owen (Taccone), Lawrence (Schaffer), and
Conner formerly comprised the Style Boyz, but Conner is the group’s breakout
star, not unlike Samberg’s relative position to his real-life friends in the
comedy business. Obviously, this creates conflict in the story, but I felt the
real-life friendship gave the picture a dash of heart I wasn’t expecting.
The relatively unknown Chris Redd also nailed Hunter The
Hungry, a hip-hop artist who makes Kanye West appear stable.
“If Popstar is so
great, then why did it bomb at the box office?” asked the voice in my head.
Some of the movie’s best jokes couldn’t have been
accomplished without an R rating, but you have to assume PG-13 would have
gotten more butts in seats. Many are
comparing Popstar to This Is Spinal Tap, but Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is more
apt. With Walk Hard, writer Judd
Apatow was given his biggest budget and an R rating, and the movie flopped.
However, I loved it, and it’s become a cult classic in the DVD and streaming
market. Popstar (produced by Apatow)
has an excellent chance do the same, but unless people actually buy tickets, we
likely won’t get another feature with The Lonely Island boys.
On the bright side, at least Popstar will be unsullied by unnecessary sequels.
