Note: There may be minor spoilers throughout, but with a movie like this, does that matter that much anyway? Anywho, you have been warned.
I want to preface this with my love for the Lonely Island, which may cause at least some bias towards this movie. But at the end of the day, this movie is really just the Lonely Island by a different name anyway, so if I didn't already like the Lonely Island, then I don't know that I would have even watched the movie to begin with. And I'm guessing that most people that watch the movie are at least familiar with the group, so I would say that most people already have an opinion of the movie before they even walk into it. That either works completely in the movie's favor, or completely against it, and I don't know that Andy Samberg and the boys would have it any other way.
The premise of the movie is that there is a film crew following this fictitious band (by the name of Style Boyz), and chronicling the career of the one member that has gone solo after the band broke up (Conner4Real, played by Samberg). The other two members are of course played by Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, the other two members of Lonely Island. The movie is basically making fun of all the music documentaries that have come out over the last several years, following around the likes of Justin Bieber and Katy Perry. The movie picks up right before the release of Conner's second album, where he has gone completely out on his own and is trying to do his own thing, which results in the album release being a total failure. The movie then follows the fall of this once very popular artist as he tries to wrestle with failure, and tries to recapture the success he once had.
The beauty of the movie is how accurate it feels to the source material it is making fun of, if not blown completely out of proportion to up the humor in the movie. Lonely Island is known for taking absurd things and amping them up to an 11, and this movie is no different. Conner and the other members of the Style Boyz are over the top characters, but at the same time, you can still relate to them in some of the things you see in real celebrities in the media these days. The thing about Andy, Jorma, and Akiva is that they can see the absurd in things, but still find a way to make it relate to the average person that is watching the movie or listening to their music.
As much as I enjoyed the movie, I also find it hard to think of who in my personal life I can actually recommend the movie to. It's one of those types of movies that not everyone is going to get into, and so for me to go out and tell everyone they need to see it is just not something I can do. If you have seen other things by the Lonely Island in the past and haven't enjoyed it, then there is nothing in Popstar that is going to change your mind. Heck, even if you have enjoyed some things by Lonely Island in the past, this hour and a half trip into the minds of these three may be too much for most people. I think the most likely people to enjoy the movie are those of us that have had some of their albums in the past, or enjoy over the top, raunchy comedies such as the Hangover movies or Bridesmaids.
Overall, the movie is a nice 90 minute escape from the daily routine to make fun of the ridiculousness of celebrity and the general public's seemingly obsession with people that we know nothing about. It stays true to the source material it is making fun of, while providing their own specific brand of humor, and for that I applaud whoever green lit this movie knowing that it was going to only appeal to a certain group of people. I like it when a movie knows what it wants to be, does it no matter what others are going to think, and then doesn't apologize for itself, and Popstar is exactly that.
My rating for the movie is 7/10
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