Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is a 2016 American mockumentary musical comedy film directed by Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone and written by and starring Andy Samberg, Taccone, and Schaffer. The trio, collectively known as The Lonely Island, also co-produced the film with Judd Apatow and Rodney Rothman. Sarah Silverman, Tim Meadows, Imogen Poots, Joan Cusack, Maya Rudolph, and Chris Redd appear in supporting roles.

The film was released on June 3, 2016, by Universal Pictures, and became a box-office bomb, grossing just over $9 million against a budget of $20 million. It received positive reviews from critics and has developed a cult following.

Plot
Conner Friel, a musical prodigy, forms a pop rap group dubbed "The Style Boyz" with his childhood friends Lawrence Dunn and Owen Bouchard at a young age. They almost instantly gain fame in the music industry and inspire many of today's musicians, who extol Conner and the group in mock interviews. However, after failing to receive credit for writing Conner's guest verse on a popular single, Lawrence leaves the group.

After the Style Boyz disband, Conner begins a solo act, taking on the name "Conner4Real", with Owen as his DJ. Lawrence begins farming in Colorado after a failed attempt at going solo. Conner's debut album Thriller, Also rockets to the top of the charts, and his fame increases.

In 2015, Conner releases his highly anticipated second album, Connquest. It is universally panned for reasons such as that he wrote every song himself and used hundreds of different producers rather than Owen's original beats. Because of the album's low sales, Conner's manager Harry suggests having Aquaspin, a home appliance manufacturer, sponsor the tour. The company's appliances begin playing Conner's songs when in use, causing a nationwide power outage.

Conner begins his tour, but the shows do not sell as well as he had hoped. Harry suggests they hire up and coming rapper Hunter the Hungry as an opening act, and the ticket sales begin to rise. Conner adds new gimmicks to his act, including a robotic mask for Owen, who feels increasingly ostracized, and publicizes his relationship with actress Ashley Wednesday. But when a trick is botched in Nashville, Conner is exposed naked (without his penis visible) mid-concert and becomes the subject of mockery. Conner's publicist Paula Klein suggests he pull another publicity stunt to deflect attention from his humiliation.

Conner decides to propose to his Ashley on E! with a display including several trained Party Wolves (since a psychic mentioned that Ashley was a wolf in a past life) and a performance by Seal. Seal's vocals agitate the wolves and after Harry tells a Party Wolves handler that he cannot stop the performance, they break loose, mauling the press, the orchestra, and their handlers. Seal fights one of them, claiming his scars are the result of a former wolf attack. Before he can enter the limousine, he gets mauled by an unseen wolf as Conner, Ashley, and Harry flee. A news report states that Seal sued Conner over his latest wolf injuries as Seal's fans and the public castigate Conner. After the incident, Conner and Owen appear as guests on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The two perform the "Donkey Roll", the Style Boyz's biggest hit, onstage with Fallon filling in for Owen, which is humiliating for Conner and gratifying for Owen.

Later, a news report states that Ashley has broken up with Conner.

Worried about the declining quality of his friend's music in light of low sales and after watching The Parent Trap, Owen sets up a meeting between himself, Conner, and Lawrence in a limousine in the hopes of bringing them back together. The limousine gets mobbed by fans, and the reunion ends poorly when Conner refuses to acknowledge that Lawrence wrote the track that launched his career. As the solo tour progresses, Hunter's career takes off, selling more records than Conner and extending the length of his opening performances.

At one of the concerts, Hunter announces that he will not leave the stage, angering Conner. Conner rushes the stage, but a brawl ensues when Hunter admits that he orchestrated Conner's wardrobe malfunction. Conner demands that Harry fire Hunter as the opener, but when Harry refuses, he discovers that Harry has signed Hunter. Conner fires Harry. Connquest is later knocked off the charts and Aquaspin decides to pull their sponsorship.

Conner's feelings of betrayal by Harry, Seal (now married to Ashley), and a Yelp review on PartyWolves.com spark him to test the loyalty of Owen and his yes men by making them pancakes mixed with dog feces. Owen, offended that Conner considered him among his "lackeys", leaves the crew. After this, and the death of his beloved pet turtle Maximus, Conner sinks into a depression, becomes increasingly erratic, and fights Martin Sheen.

He moves back to Sacremento, living in his mother's house while she is touring with Fall Out Boy. He begins drinking heavily, starts selling childish horse drawings online, and develops a passion for dressage. Checking up on Conner, Paula forces Conner to leave the house and takes him to a club where Owen is performing a DJ set of his own. Under the cloak of the music, Conner understands how poorly he has conducted himself in recent months.

Owen's production skill but lack of singing ability in the set cause Conner and Owen to realize how much they need each other. They reconcile and decide to finally make amends with Lawrence. In Colorado, Conner gives Lawrence his Poppy music award, apologizes, and acknowledges his contributions. It is revealed that Lawrence grows marijuana on his farm, and as the three get high and collaborate in Lawrence's studio, Conner receives news from Paula that a six-minute slot has opened for Conner to perform at the Poppys due to Taylor Swift being arrested for murder. With encouragement from his friends, he decides to both reunite the Style Boyz and continue his work as Conner4Real.

At the Poppys, Hunter is contractually obligated to promote Aquaspin while presenting an award, prompting an argument with Mariah Carey. Harry orders him to find himself a new manager after Hunter insults him backstage. Conner reconciles with Harry and later finds out that the six-minute slot has been shortened to three, forcing him to perform either a Conner4Real song or a Style Boyz song. Conner decides to perform the Style Boyz's new song "Incredible Thoughts" featuring Michael Bolton.

As Hunter leaves in defeat, Conner reflects on the lessons he learned and the value of holding onto relationships after reaching stardom interspersed with such musings as if Lawrence knew a crew member at the Poppys who kissed him and why Deborah, an Aquaspin employee who he had met with previously, was backstage. Conner introduces a new baby turtle named Maximus II before one of the Party Wolves attacks him.

During the credits, the CMZ reporters talk about the Style Boyz getting back together.

Cast

 * Andy Samberg as Conner "Kid Conner" Friel / Conner4Real, a pop rap star and former Style Boy.
 * Evan Fine as 10-year-old Conner.
 * Jorma Taccone as Owen "Kid Contact" Bouchard, a former Style Boy and Conner's current DJ.
 * Maxwell Jenkins as 10-year-old Owen.
 * Akiva Schaffer as Lawrence "Kid Brain" Dunn, a former Style Boy and songwriter who moved to Colorado and became a farmer following the group's breakup.
 * Elliott Smith as 10-year-old Lawrence.
 * Sarah Silverman as Paula Klein, Conner's publicist.
 * Tim Meadows as Harry Duggins, Conner's manager.
 * Maya Rudolph as Deborah, a representative for Aquaspin.
 * Joan Cusack as Tilly Friel, Conner's supportive and party-animal mother.


 * Imogen Poots as Ashley Wednesday, an actress and Conner's girlfriend.
 * Chris Redd as Hunter the Hungry, an underground rapper who tours with Conner.
 * Edgar Blackmon and James Buckley as Eddie and Sponge, members of Conner's entourage who serve as his yes men.

The rest of Conner's staff include: Ashley Moore as Sarah, his personal assistant; Bill Hader as Zippy, a roadie; Danny Strong as his perspective manipulator; Will Forte as his bagpipe player; and Justin Timberlake as Tyrus Quash (uncredited), Conner's chef who later dresses as Mr. Fish during the Style Boyz performance at the Poppies.

Will Arnett, Eric André, Mike Birbiglia, and Chelsea Peretti portray CMZ reporters, a parody of TMZ. Kevin Nealon appears as photographer Gary Sikes, and Paul Scheer plays one of the Party Wolves handlers at Conner and Ashley's engagement ceremony who asks Harry to stop Seal's singing as it's driving the wolves crazy. Emma Stone makes an uncredited cameo as Claudia Cantrell, a well-known pop singer who helped kickstart Conner's solo career, and "Weird Al" Yankovic appears as the lead singer of Hammerleg. The wives of Samberg, Taccone, and Schaffer all make brief appearances: Joanna Newsom (Samberg's wife) as Zippy's flatline doctor, Marielle Heller (Taccone's wife) as a member of Conner's documentary crew, and Liz Cackowski (Schaffer's wife) as the Poppies stage manager. Judd Apatow voices one of Conner's fans.

Cameos as themselves
 * 50 Cent
 * Akon
 * ASAP Rocky,
 * Big Boy
 * Michael Bolton, who joins the Style Boyz in performing "Incredible Thoughts" at the Poppys.
 * Win Butler
 * Mariah Carey, who praises Conner and his music in a mock interview and later argues with Hunter at the Poppys.
 * Régine Chassagne
 * Simon Cowell
 * Miley Cyrus
 * Danger Mouse
 * Snoop Dogg, who attends the Poppys while promoting his new TV show Surprise Motherfuckers.
 * DJ Khaled
 * Jimmy Fallon, who interviews Conner and Owen on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
 * Steve Higgins
 * Adam Levine
 * Nas
 * Katy Perry
 * Pink
 * Behati Prinsloo
 * Questlove
 * Rihanna
 * The Roots
 * RZA
 * Seal, who performs at Conner's disastrous proposal to Ashley. In the film, Seal's scars are attributed to a previous wolf attack.
 * Martin Sheen
 * Ringo Starr
 * Asa Taccone
 * T.I.
 * Carrie Underwood
 * Usher
 * Pharrell Williams

Production
Principal photography on the film began on May 14, 2015, announced by Universal Pictures under the working title Conner4real.

Release
The film was advertised on YouTube the month of its release date. On May 10, 2016, Samberg made an appearance on NBC's The Voice in character as Conner4real to perform "I'm So Humble", alongside judge Adam Levine, and give answers to contestants in a farcical Q&A session. Samberg then made a guest appearance on the season 41 finale of Saturday Night Live, on May 21, 2016. Promoted as a new SNL Digital Short, he appeared in character as Conner4real and debuted a song from the movie ("Finest Girl"). Taccone and Schaffer received guest writing credits for the episode. The Lonely Island also released a video "I'm a Weirdo" to their YouTube channel, featuring Conner4real rapping on the street.

The film was released in the United States on June 3, 2016, and in the United Kingdom on August 26, 2016, by Universal Pictures. It did not get an international release.

Soundtrack
The Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping soundtrack album, performed by the Lonely Island, was released on June 3, 2016, the day of the film's release.

Box office
In the United States, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping opened on June 3, 2016, alongside Me Before You and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and was expected to gross around $7 million from 2,311 theaters in its opening weekend. The film grossed $322,000 from its Thursday previews and $1.8 million on its first day. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $4.6 million and finishing 8th at the box office. The film was a box office bomb, grossing just $9.5 million against its $20 million budget.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 79% based on 175 reviews, with an average rating of 6.70/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping updates the rock mockumentary for the 21st century mainstream – and hits many of its low-hanging targets with side-splitting impact." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Vince Mancini of Uproxx gave the film a positive review, saying: "It's as stupid as it is relevant, and that layering of humor styles — insightful satire, no-holds-barred vulgarity, irresistible juvenilia, surreal pop art, timeless deadpan — are Popstar‘s hallmark. It's smart, dumb, silly, and gross in all the right ways. I loved it." David Palmer of The Reel Deal gave the film 8/10, calling it the best comedy of 2016 and praised the songs.

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club wrote: "No music mockumentary has really managed to reproduce This Is Spinal Tap's comic mojo, but Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping gets closer than most to that subgenre-defining comedy's mix of the dead-on and the over-the-top, even if it tends to go for quantity over quality."

Home media
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping was released on Digital HD on August 16, 2016, and on Blu-ray and DVD on September 13, 2016 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. As of June 16, 2017, it had made $1.1 million in home media sales. Shout! Factory released the film on Blu-ray on November 12, 2019, which included the previous special features in a limited edition steelbook case.

Potential sequel
In 2022, Schaffer announced that a sequel to the film is not in the works, but is not off the table.