Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Certainly one of my favorite forms of comedy is that of the satire or parody. It typically comes across as a dry form of the truth done to poke fun at or to make light of, so when executing this, one must be a honed writer to pull this off well. Films like "Thank You for Smoking" '05 and "Zombieland" '09 are satirical films in which the dialogue was slick and cutting and hilarious. So when "Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping" came along, why did these writers feel like this was a satire which is clearly was not?

When his new album fails to sell records, pop/rap superstar Conner4real (Andy Samberg) goes into a major tailspin and watches his celebrity high life begin to collapse. He'll try anything to bounce back, anything except reuniting with his old rap group The Style Boyz which includes Owen (Jorma Taccone) and Lawrence (Akiva Schaffer). His manager Harry (Tim Meadows) and publicist Paula (Sarah Silverman) even start a tour for Conner with another artist, Hunter (Chris Redd) as the lead in to Conner's concerts hoping that will spark more audience interest only with Hunter eventually garnering more popularity than Conner. What is this self-absorbed, egotistical, narcissistic 'artist' to do?

Others to round out the cast are Maya Rudolph as Deborah, Joan Cusack as Tilly, Imogen Poots as Ashley, Edgar Blackman as Eddie and James Buckley as Sponge.

This was directed spot on by Akiva Schaffer ("Hot Rod" '07, "The Watch" '12) and Jorma Taccone ("MacGruder" '10). These guys certainly know how to pace and stage the newer actors today in a way that makes their films hip and contemporary. It will be interesting to see what they will pull off next. However, where the direction exceled, the writing by Andy Samberg, Schaffer and Taccone did not. Even though the premise here certainly was great fodder for an incredible satire, the execution simply was sold out to gratuitous four-letter-words, toilet humor with only a handful of lines even worthy to laugh at. Comedy, especially satire should be conveyed effortlessly--as a 'knee jerk' reaction. When a writer has to take its audience by the juggler and scream, "hey! look at me!", it no longer is funny. Comedy isn't just words. It's how those words are played out along with the proper timing and delivery that goes into a well honed comedy that makes it truly funny. Why can't the newer Hollywood writers today get this concept!? These writers should view some past screenplays that are satires, at their very best, and take note. Sure some of the lines were funny, but even some of those lines seeming forced. These guys have a ton of TV and shorts to their credit, so maybe they should stick to that medium for a while to hone their talent a bit more. As mentioned prior, the premise is classic, it's just too bad that a more cutting edge dialogue couldn't have followed.

You be the judge. If you like satirical comedy, watch this tell me what you think, otherwise I would pass on this and maybe Netflix or rent this down the road.

Out of 4 Stars: 1.5                                 Rated: R                                     87mins.