You have to follow your dreams. You have to be who you were always meant to be, no matter what the cost. You can’t stop. Never stop never stopping. And see Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, the ridiculous and ridiculously fun Lonely Island-whatever-the-hell-that-is-I-guess-I’m-just-out-of-the-loop-oh-yeah-it’s-something-with-Andy-Samberg comedy about a popstar who learns to never stop never stopping.
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping isn’t an SNL movie, but close enough. And it could have easily played out like one of those many [P.O.S.] movies—you know, silly, stupid, way too long, and extremely unfunny.
Thankfully, Popstar is pretty good. Not perfect, no comedy classic, but pretty good.
Samberg plays a Macklemore-meets-Justin Timberlake amalgam—albeit one with a lower IQ. Popstar takes jabs at the music industry, performers and just about every other related thing, and while some jokes work better than ever, there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments throughout its brief 80-minute runtime.
The movie is silly, stupid and only slightly too long (yes, even at 80 minutes it feels a hair long), but it’s generally quite funny. Popstar follows a predictable, and certain subplots (like Akiva Schaffer’s farmer bit, and Samberg’s bender sequence) have been done many times before. Still, it succeeds much more often than it doesn’t.
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping isn’t great, but it will make you believe. It will make you want to do it. It will make you want to never stop never stopping.
Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.