Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

This is one of those comedies that slipped under most people’s radars, which is ridiculous considering how funny it is. Basically, it’s a mockumentary following Connor4Real, a Bieber-esque pop star ballooning in fame and ego, played by Andy Samberg with ridiculous commitment. It parodies both the music industry and pop culture documentaries in such a spot-on way that it’s hard to believe Lonely Island didn’t catch even more heat for some of the digs.

What stood out immediately is the tone — relentless, silly, but also kind of deadpan. There are background gags layered everywhere, from the over-the-top music videos to the fake celeb cameos (some who really go for it, like Seal and Simon Cowell). The pacing is pretty relentless too. There’s barely time to breathe between punchlines and cringey scenarios, which is great if you’re into the vibe but could be exhausting if you’re not.

Samberg is the obvious highlight, but honestly, the supporting cast rules. Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer have the perfect dry delivery, and Tim Meadows as the long-suffering manager is oddly touching. No one’s doing subtle acting here but that’s kind of the charm; everyone’s in it purely for laughs, and they really go there.

The music scenes are next-level. “Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song)” and “I’m So Humble” are just stupidly catchy, and they nail that weird sweet spot between loving homage and vicious parody. The faux-documentary style keeps things moving, with some surprisingly creative editing and direction (which shouldn’t be surprising since Taccone and Schaffer co-directed).

If anything doesn’t land, it’s that the story itself is super thin. There’s a pretty standard arc of “success leads to arrogance leads to learning humility,” but it never digs deep. Emotional beats are basically speed bumps so we can get to the next music video gag. But that’s not really a dealbreaker for a movie aiming for relentless laughs.

Honestly, the only major downside is that some jokes feel dated already, especially anything riffing on early 2010s pop culture. Still, it holds up way better than most SNL spinoff comedies. It’s stupid-smart and knows exactly what it wants to be, even if it’s not trying very hard to be more than that.