Directors: Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone
Cast: Andy Samberg, Sarah Silverman, Tim Meadows
Saturday Night Live’s The Lonely Island have always been
ridiculously hilarious to me with their over the top, unnecessary humour. The
group’s first film effort Hot Rod back in 2007 was one of the best slapstick comedies
I have seen the past decade, it is filled with one-liners and random gigs that
you just did not see coming but will be a repeated viral video on YouTube. At
this point, you would be very intrigued of what they will come up next. Then
Popstar came along.
Although trailers have led us to believe that it’s about the
life and success of the character conner4real, who is a former boy band member
going solo, it is a very endearing story about the fallout between the former band
The Style Boyz (which was basically a Beastie Boys carbon copy) as conner4real
slowly crumbles as he is trying to maintain his image. The narrative itself is
very familiar but we see that they are aware of it and mock it anyway. Hilariously
enough, we see Conner’s ridiculous songs within his solo career, like Equal
rights while constantly singing that he’s not gay, and his ex-girlfriend
telling him to screw her like Bin Laden, showing the creativity wasn’t the same
without the band. While Lawrence, who left the band because Conner took credit
for a “song catchphrase” he wrote, becomes a terrible farmer, and Owen, the musically
creative member of the group is stuck with Conner as a DJ, basically plays his
music on an iPod at concerts and tries to form back The Style Boyz.
What I love the most about the film is the several, or
plenty of jabs on the music industry itself. Most of the time, I kept thinking
that conner4real was loosely based off of Justin Bieber, from playing the drums
as an infant, to having an exotic pet, the actual title of the movie even
parodies Bieber’s documentary. There are so many accurate parodies between one
gag to another. From the exaggerated TMZ, celebrity relationships, reality TV,
to the unwanted music endorsement within our products (which was a jab at U2
for putting their album into our iTunes). They almost seemed too easy to the
point that it becomes unnecessary but the fact there are so many cameos from
musicians and actors shows they embrace this mockery. Although sometimes
directors Schaffer and Taccone doesn’t follow the mockumentary rules, it’s so
lightning fast with its spit-out one liners and satiric references that it
masks those errors.
Overall: It’s a lot to take in with so many unexpected cameos
and WTF moments but it’s a breath of fresh air within the mockumentary genre
despite the familiar narrative. There are exuberant “The Lonely Island” style
music videos to enjoy in between; it’s a modern parody of the musical landscape
with multiple stabs on the industry today.
9/10
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