Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is a 2016 American mockumentary musical comedy film directed by Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone and written by and starring Andy Samberg, Taccone, and Schaffer. The trio, collectively known as The Lonely Island, also co-produced the film with Judd Apatow and Rodney Rothman. Sarah Silverman, Tim Meadows, Imogen Poots, Joan Cusack, Maya Rudolph, and Chris Redd appear in supporting roles.
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
- Andy Samberg
- Akiva Schaffer
- Jorma Taccone
- Judd Apatow
- Rodney Rothman
- Andy Samberg
- Akiva Schaffer
- Jorma Taccone
- Andy Samberg
- Jorma Taccone
- Akiva Schaffer
- Sarah Silverman
- Tim Meadows
- Jamie Gross
- Craig Alpert
- Stacey Schroeder
Matthew Compton
- May 24, 2016 (New York City)
- June 3, 2016 (United States)
87 minutes[1]
United States
English
$20 million[2]
$9.7 million[3]
The film was released on June 3, 2016, by Universal Pictures, and became a box-office bomb, grossing just over $9 million against a budget of $20 million. It received positive reviews from critics and has developed a cult following.
Plot[edit]
Conner Friel is a musical prodigy at an early age, and he forms a pop rap group dubbed "The Style Boyz" with his childhood friends Lawrence Dunn and Owen Bouchard. They almost instantly gain fame in the music industry and inspire many of today's musicians. However, after failing to receive credit for writing Conner's guest verse on a popular single, Lawrence leaves.
After the Style Boyz disband, Conner begins a solo act, taking on the name "Conner4Real", with Owen as his DJ while being supported by his mother Tilly. Lawrence begins farming in Colorado after a failed attempt at going solo. Conner's debut album Thriller, Also rockets to the top of the charts, and his fame increases. In 2015, Conner releases his sophomore album, Connquest, which is heavily panned due to his writing every song himself and using hundreds of different producers rather than Owen's original beats. With low sales, Conner's manager Harry suggests having Aquaspin, a home appliance manufacturer, sponsor the tour as they meet with its representative, Deborah. The company's appliances begin playing Conner's songs when in use, causing a nationwide power outage.
Conner begins his tour, but the shows do not sell as well as he had hoped. Harry suggests they hire hip-hop artist Hunter the Hungry as an opening act, and the ticket sales begin to rise. Conner adds new gimmicks to his act, including a robotic mask for Owen, and publicizes his relationship with actress Ashley Wednesday. But when a trick is seemingly botched in Nashville, Conner is exposed naked (without his penis visible) mid-concert and becomes the subject of mockery. Conner's publicist Paula Klein suggests he pull another publicity stunt to deflect attention from his humiliation. Conner decides to propose to Ashley on live TV, with a display including several trained Party Wolves and a performance by Seal. Seal's vocals agitate the wolves, and they break loose, mauling the attendees. A news report states that Seal sued Conner for his injuries as Seal's fans talk bad about Conner. Seal fights one of them, but gets attacked by another one as Conner, Ashley, and Harry flee in their limo. After the incident, Conner and Owen end up as guests on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Sometime later, a news report states that Ashley has broken up with Conner.
Worried about the declining quality of his friend's music, Owen sets up a meeting between himself, Conner, and Lawrence in the hopes of bringing them back together, like The Parent Trap. The reunion ends poorly when Conner refuses to acknowledge that Lawrence wrote the track that launched his career. As the solo tour progresses, Hunter's career takes off, selling more records than Conner and extending his opening performances.
At one of the concerts, Hunter announces that he will not leave the stage, angering Conner. Conner rushes the stage, but a brawl ensues when Hunter admits that he orchestrated Conner's wardrobe malfunction. Conner demands that Harry fire Hunter as the opener, but when Harry refuses, he discovers that Harry has signed Hunter. Conner fires Harry. Connquest is later knocked off the charts, and Aquaspin decides to pull their sponsorship.
After talking about how he thought he can trust Harry, Seal (who Ashley married), and that Yelp review on PartyWolves.com, Conner tests Owen and his yes men's loyalty by making them pancakes mixed with dog feces, which causes Owen to leave the crew. After his beloved pet turtle Maximus dies and a fight with Martin Sheen, Conner sinks into a depression and moves back into Tilly's house while Tilly is away with Fall Out Boy. He begins drinking heavily and starts selling childish horse drawings online. Checking up on Conner, Paula forces Conner to leave the house and takes him to a club featuring Owen.
Conner and Owen reconcile and decide to finally make amends with Lawrence. Conner gives Lawrence his Poppy music award, apologizes, and acknowledges his contributions. As the three get high and collaborate in Lawrence's studio, Conner receives news from Paula that a six-minute slot has opened for Conner to perform at the Poppy Music Awards due to Taylor Swift being arrested for murder. With encouragement from his friends, he decides to reunite the Style Boyz.
At the Poppys, Hunter and Mariah Carey argue on stage, and Harry orders Hunter to find himself a new manager after being insulted by him. Conner reconciles with Harry and later finds out that the six-minute slot has been shortened to three, forcing him to perform either a Conner4Real song or a Style Boyz song. Conner decides to perform the Style Boyz's new song "Incredible Thoughts" featuring Michael Bolton.
As Hunter leaves in defeat, Conner reflects on his lessons and the value of holding onto relationships after reaching stardom while also wondering if Lawrence knew a crew member who kissed him and why Deborah is backstage. Conner introduces a new baby turtle named Maximus II before one of the Party Wolves attacks him.
During the credits, the CMZ reporters talk about the Style Boyz getting back together. While they note that they don't hang out much outside of their work, the lead reporter does ask if they have a picture of James Franco leaving a restaurant.
The rest of Conner's staff include: Ashley Moore as Sarah, his personal assistant; Bill Hader as Zippy, a roadie; Danny Strong as his perspective manipulator; Will Forte as his bagpipe player; and Justin Timberlake as Tyrus Quash (uncredited), Conner's chef who later dresses as Mr. Fish during the Style Boyz performance at the Poppies.
Will Arnett, Eric André, Mike Birbiglia, and Chelsea Peretti portray CMZ reporters, a parody of TMZ. Kevin Nealon appears as photographer Gary Sikes, and Paul Scheer plays the Party Wolves handler at Conner and Ashley's engagement ceremony. Emma Stone makes an uncredited cameo as Claudia Cantrell, a well-known pop singer who helped kickstart Conner's solo career, and "Weird Al" Yankovic appears as the lead singer of Hammerleg. The wives of Samberg, Taccone, and Schaffer all make brief appearances: Joanna Newsom (Samberg's wife) as Zippy's flatline doctor, Marielle Heller (Taccone's wife) as a member of Conner's documentary crew, and Liz Cackowski (Schaffer's wife) as the Poppies stage manager. Judd Apatow voices one of Conner's fans.
Cameos as themselves
Production[edit]
Principal photography on the film began on May 14, 2015, announced by Universal Pictures under the working title Conner4real.[8][9]
Release[edit]
The film was advertised on YouTube the month of its release date. On May 10, 2016, Samberg made an appearance on NBC's The Voice in character as Conner4real to perform "I'm So Humble", alongside judge Adam Levine, and give answers to contestants in a farcical Q&A session.[10] Samberg then made a guest appearance on the season 41 finale of Saturday Night Live, on May 21, 2016. Promoted as a new SNL Digital Short, he appeared in character as Conner4real and debuted a song from the movie ("Finest Girl"). Taccone and Schaffer received guest writing credits for the episode.[11] The Lonely Island also released a video "I'm a Weirdo" to their YouTube channel, featuring Conner4real rapping on the street.[12]
The film was released in the United States on June 3, 2016, and in the United Kingdom on August 26, 2016, by Universal Pictures. It did not get an international release.[13]
Popstar:
Never Stop Never Stopping
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
In the United States, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping opened on June 3, 2016, alongside Me Before You and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and was expected to gross around $7 million from 2,311 theaters in its opening weekend.[20] The film grossed $322,000 from its Thursday previews and $1.8 million on its first day.[2][21] In its opening weekend, the film grossed $4.6 million and finishing 8th at the box office.[22] The film was a box office bomb, grossing just $9.5 million against its $20 million budget.[3]
Critical response[edit]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 79% based on 175 reviews, with an average rating of 6.70/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping updates the rock mockumentary for the 21st century mainstream – and hits many of its low-hanging targets with side-splitting impact."[23] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[24] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[2]
Vince Mancini of Uproxx gave the film a positive review, saying: "It's as stupid as it is relevant, and that layering of humor styles — insightful satire, no-holds-barred vulgarity, irresistible juvenilia, surreal pop art, timeless deadpan — are Popstar‘s hallmark. It's smart, dumb, silly, and gross in all the right ways. I loved it."[25] David Palmer of The Reel Deal gave the film 8/10, calling it the best comedy of 2016 and praised the songs.[26]
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club wrote: "No music mockumentary has really managed to reproduce This Is Spinal Tap's comic mojo, but Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping gets closer than most to that subgenre-defining comedy's mix of the dead-on and the over-the-top, even if it tends to go for quantity over quality."[27]
Home media[edit]
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping was released on Digital HD on August 16, 2016, and on Blu-ray and DVD on September 13, 2016 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.[28][29] As of June 16, 2017, it had made $1.1 million in home media sales.[30] Shout! Factory released the film on Blu-ray on November 12, 2019, which included the previous special features in a limited edition steelbook case.[31]
