If you need a one-to-one comparison, it’s safe to say that Andy Samberg’s Conner is a stand-in for Justin Bieber in this Spinal Tap-esque mockumentary about a pretty-boy chart-topper’s fall from grace. Popstar has its moments of incisive satire about the manufacturing of and media obsession over contemporary celebrities (including a great bit involving a camera traffic jam on the red carpet), but mostly this is a holding place for the non-sequitur brilliance of Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer. (All three wrote the script, while Schaffer and Taccone also direct and have supporting parts.) As with their spoof music videos and 2007’s Hot Rod, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping runs on hilarious, unrelated bits of idiocy: a vomiting pet turtle; actual pop star Seal being attacked by wolves; a hysterical—and literal—exposure of the double standard that exists when it comes to male and female nudity. (I will never ever roll my car window up without checking twice again.) Special praise goes to Tim Meadows’ quiet hilarity as Conner’s manager, the supposed fourth member of Tony! Toni! Toné! (TonEe?)
