The comedy
whirlwind that is Andy Samberg has been going strong for the past 10 years or
so. But if one thing has changed since “Lazy Sunday” took the internet by
storm, it’s that we’ve become much more aware of Andy’s partners in crime,
Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. In addition to bringing us some of the
funniest bits in recent entertainment history, together they form the trio The
Lonely Island, the biggest name in musical humor since Weird Al. Their latest movie
is a love letter to the fans of “I’m on a Boat” and “Jack Sparrow” while also
functioning as send-up of concert tour documentaries.
Samberg is the ideal comedic lead, and quite an experienced
one at this point. His mastery of both verbal and physical delivery, the
meme-worthy facial expressions, the boundless energy—this man is a Muppet that
came to life. He is 1994 Jim Carrey. This guy is TOO good. Can he do no wrong?
That’s where I’m leaning. His central performance as “Conner4Real” effortlessly
carries this movie. This ends up being kind of a double edged sword, however.
The movie even makes a plot point of this, so I can’t say I’m
that disappointed, but I could have used another helping of Jorma and Akiva. In
that sense, the adherence to the style of Never
Say Never actually hurts the movie. Popstar
only occasionally tests the rules of its mockumentary format—for instance, this
amazing gag occurs after the cameraman
is asked to stop filming. It is an absurdly brilliant moment of self-awareness,
and it’s completely uncalled for. These unpredictable punchlines are few and
far between, though.
Perhaps some surprises were ruined for me with the trailer.
It still feels like they could have committed more to skewing the genre. This
style only adds to the “one man show” quality of the movie. Had they focused a
bit more on the onscreen chemistry between the three, I think we would have
gotten a much more memorable spoof. It’s almost a shame that Keanu set the bar so high earlier this
year.
But as it stands, there’s really not much to complain about
here. The songs are hilarious, we have an impressive ensemble of unnaturally
funny people, and there’s even a gratuitous scene involving a big ol’ floppy
penis. It’s a silly movie for when you want to have a silly time! It
accomplishes just about everything it sets out to do. If you like SNL you will probably
like this. It just falls short of the greatness of parody treasures like Walk Hard and MacGruber. 7/10
