Popstar,
the new film by the comedy trio Lonely Island, wont’ make much money. It won’t be in theaters for long, has zero
chance of winning awards, and I’ll bet you’ll never see it, at least on
purpose. But as Teresa Giudice is my witness, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is
the greatest mockumentary about our nation’s vapid obsession with fame for
fame’s sake ever made, eighty-six minutes of inappropriate songs, celebrity
cameos, turtle funerals and Michael Bolton.
I implore you to see it – my son and I were two of seven people in the
theater last Sunday, so there are plenty of tickets left!
Andy Samberg is Connor4Real, a dim yet
enthusiastic popstar whose rapid ascent to fame is followed by an equally speedy
decline. After leaving his best friends
and their rap group, Style Boyz, behind to chase solo success, Connor’s first
album, Thriller Also, goes
platinum. But his follow-up effort is a
dud, and after hitting rock bottom, Connor slowly pieces things back together through
horse-drawing therapy and his former bandmates, although his mom appears to be
a lost cause, as is Seal, although he has angry wolves to blame – it’s a long
story. With Taylor Swift’s arrest for
murder, Connor finds the opportunity for redemption. The Donkey Roll makes a comeback, the caterer
dons a fish costume and everyone except Seal goes home happy.
Popstar is not high art – the Citizen Kane of mockumentaries it’s not
– it’s not even The Amazing Mr. Limpet of
pretend documentaries, but it’s good enough to keep you entertained and serves
as a reminder that we have no one to blame for the Real Housewives of Kenosha, Justin Bieber and TMZ except ourselves. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is
worth seeing – consider it a reminder that sometimes a good book is the best
solution for quality entertainment.
In the spirit of equally fantastic mockumentaries, here are
a few worth watching:
This is Spinal Tap
(1984) – this remains the standard by which all mockumentaries are judged, and
one of the top five funniest films of all time.
The dialogue has worked its way into our culture (“This one goes to
11”), and the film helped launch a series of almost as equally great films from
Christopher Guest and his kooky pals, like Best
in Show, Waiting for Guffman and A Mighty Wind. I’ve seen Spinal
Tap at least 75 times from start to finish, and it never gets old. Just remember that a cricket bat can be both
totemistic and rather handy in the topsy-turvy world of rock and roll.
What We Do in the
Shadows (2014) – a documentary film crew follows three New Zealand vampires
for a year as they try living together without driving each other batty. Jermaine Clement, from the landmark HBO
comedy series, “Flight of the Conchords,” portrays Vlad the Vampire, and he and
his cohorts battle the modern world and a murderous but polite gang of
werewolves (“Remember – we’re werewolves, not swearwolves”). This movie is brilliant – the best vampire
documentary you’ll ever see.
Real Life (1979)
– comedian and filmmaker Albert Brooks plays himself making a documentary about
an ordinary family in Phoenix, and he manages to put himself the center of
every scene. Between the crew wearing
space-age camera helmets on their heads to the veterinarian dad, played by
Charles Grodin, losing a rather large patient on the operating table to Brooks
dressed as a clown as he plumbs the depths of a nervous breakdown, Real Life is priceless comedy. The statement uttered near the end, “Reality
sucks – the audience loves fake,” captures the essence of this late ‘70’s
masterpiece.
Borat: Cultural
Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
– If you watch only one scene in this film, catch the moment when the bear greets
the children hoping for ice cream. Or
the scene when Borat’s producer runs through a crowded hotel in his birthday
suit or when Borat sings the national anthem at a rodeo or when he takes
driving lessons or . . . Good lord this
film is insane.
Documentary Now!
(2015) - SNL alums Bill Hader, Fred
Armisen and Seth Meyers created a TV series both mocking and paying homage to
legendary documentaries. Watch Hader and
Armisen as the two old women in “Sandy Passage,” based on the famous
documentary Grey Gardens, and witness
things go terribly wrong for the film crew.
The episode spoofing the in-your-face style of Vice’s HBO documentaries,
called “The Search for El Chingon,” does not have a happy ending but is riveting
nonetheless.
