MIT Lecture Series Committee

December 2 & 3, 2016

Rated R
87 minutes

view trailer

format: digital

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)

This mockumentary satire of the music business and modern celebrity centers on self-absorbed pop rapper Conner4Real (Andy Samberg). Once a member of a popular rap trio called the Style Boyz, Conner is now a solo artist about to drop his second album. Unfortunately, the release gets abysmal reviews, and his career begins to melt down when his attempts at rehabing his image lead to such disasters as a global blackout and a proposal to his girlfriend interrupted by a wolf attack. Eventually, Conner considers burying the hatchet with former colleagues Owen (Jorma Taccone) and Lawrence (Akiva Schaffer) in order to reunite the Style Boyz. Tim Meadows, Maya Rudolph, Sarah Silverman, and Imogen Poots co-star. Samberg, Taccone, and Schaffer co-wrote the screenplay, while Taccone and Schaffer shared directing duties. [www.allmovie.com]

Popstar gets to satirize not just music, but also celebrity culture in a way that a movie such as Spinal Tap never could - because, well, the internet and 24-hours news cycle didn't exist in 1984.
      -- Molly Eichel, Philadelphia Enquirer. Read this review.