A Solid Coming-of-Age Story Disguised as a Satire

Rating: 7/10 (13 April 2017)

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is a parody of the modern music industry, and it follows a young pop star, Conner4Real, as he reaches fame and suddenly begins to plummet.
For starters, Andy Samberg is really good as Conner4Real. He captures the self-centered obliviousness of the character without making him feel too fake or over-the-top. He's a super fun character, and it's clear that Samberg is enjoying him too. Jorma Taccone stands out as a particularly good performance as well, as the sidekick friend character who kind of awkwardly lives in the background.
The comedic aspect is great. The main source of this is in the songs that Conner4Real performs. They're all great. They sound generic, but the lyrics both fit the character who wrote them and prove to be hilariously offensive. And even the comedy outside of that is great. Again, Samberg really has a good time with this one, and the writing for him proves to be just the same.
And yet, despite the comedic and satirical aspect of the film, it is still at least partially a coming-of-age story. Samberg's character really isn't that unbelievable, and when he starts to fall it takes on a more serious tone. It's not a weird sudden tonal change because the movie is both serious and comedic all the way through, it just gets more serious towards the end. In some ways it is kind of generic as far as coming-of-age stories go, but the characters are solid enough to carry it, so it wasn't a problem.
Overall I really enjoyed Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. It's a solid comedy and an equally good coming-of-age story. In the end I would definitely recommend this one.