Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

**Spoiler Alert**

Directors: Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone/ Starring: Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, Sarah Silverman, Tim Meadows, Maya Rudolph, Chris Redd, Joan Cusack and Imogen Poots

Former SNL cast member Andy Samberg and writers Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone have joined forces for the pop-rock-mockumentary Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. It's been awhile since anyone has tried their hand at this genre, which is surprising, given that pop-music personalities are always ripe for satirical plunder. Comparisons to Spinal Tap are inevitable but the movie reminded me more of Rusty Cundieff's Fear of a Black Hat; another mockumentary that chronicled the rise and fall and rise of a rap group. Schaffer and Taccone's film bears a close resemblance to that story but is distinctive enough to claim its own identity. Having seen the trailer, I expected the material to be uneven, which it was, though it leans more toward being unfunny. In spite of itself, the movie is able to be kind of fun without actually being funny most of the time.

The documentary gives us some background on the former members of the boy band The Style Boyz, who are kind of a Boyz to Men/Beastie Boys amalgam. Its three members; Conner (Andy Samberg), Owen (Jorma Taccone) and Lawrence (Akiva Schaffer) have been friends since childhood. We learn that Connor's musical origins can be traced to his infancy, where we see his baby self adroitly working a drum kit (though comically improbable). Conner, Owen and Lawrence's childhood friendship leads to the formation of The Style Boyz and a clip of the group shows them performing later, in a small club, where their profanity-laden rap lyrics raise the eyebrows of a staid audience. Though the group achieves widespread acclaim and fame, internal dissension leads to a break-up. Conner forges ahead on his own as Conner 4Real, a semi-solo act that reduces Owen to the role of DJ while Lawrence leaves the group to become a farmer in Colorado. Serving as the group's manager is Harry (Tim Meadows); whose own attempt at musical stardom was a short-lived stint in a band whose name becomes a gag in its own right. Also in Conner's employ is his PR person Paula (Sarah Silverman). Though Conner4Real is ostensibly a two-man group, Owen finds himself playing a secondary role while Connor receives a heavily disproportionate share of the fame and glory.

The mockumentary has its share of famous talking heads from the world of music, who comment on both The Style Boyz and Connor4Real's successes and influence. Among the real life musicians who share stories and views with straight faces are Questlove, 50 Cent, Nas, Mariah Carey, Carrie Underwood and even Ringo Starr.

We get a taste of Conner4Real's material when we see footage of him perform Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song); a song about a randy woman who asks Conner to do to her what the United States military did to Osama Bin Laden. Another unintentionally amusing song comes from a video called Equal Rights, which is supposed to be Conner's progressive statement about gay marriage but as the song (and the video) progresses, the singer's homophobic declarations of heterosexuality become humorously evident.
The mock-doc really begins a few days before the release of Conner4Real's CONNquest; a hugely anticipated album in the music industry. It is funny to see the absurdly long list of producers on the album; evidence of obscene artistic overkill.

But upon release, Conner finds the album has not been well-received. In a Spinal Tap moment, he looks on the internet to read the reviews. After one bad review, he reads Rolling Stone magazine, hoping for an alternate critical reaction. It is very funny to see the magazine's negative review, which includes a sh*t emoji. In searching for a positive response, he manages to find one but isn't hip to The Onion's comic irony.

Undeterred by horrific album sales, Conner moves ahead with his tour. Hoping to find a corporate sponsor to defray the cost of the tour, an appliance manufacturer offers its support. Appliances that play an artists' music might be considered gauche to most musicians but Conner nonetheless accepts their offer.

As the tour commences, Conner and Harry find the venues are far from being sold out. Harry suggests they take on an opening act to draw a larger crowd; an idea the singer hardly finds thrilling. With little choice, they select an up and coming rapper by the name Hunter the Hungry. Hunter and Conner hit it off, but the rapper becomes his bane when his touring antics become too much for everyone to bear.

Comic mishaps and malfunctions plague the tour. A prank involving a wardrobe change onstage, a la Katy Perry, goes awry, leaving Conner publicly humiliated. It comes to light shortly thereafter that Hunter was behind the prank, which prompts Conner to kick him off the tour.

The story becomes a tale of misfortunes as Conner's career takes a hit. Horrifically absurd bad luck seems to follow him everywhere. An elaborate attempt at "resetting the media" becomes a near tragedy when Conner's proposal to his girlfriend Ashley (Imogen Poots) goes terribly wrong. Knowing Ashley's fondness for wolves, he has several on-hand when he proposes to her, while the R&B singer Seal performs on a stage nearby. Unfortunately the wolves break free to terrorize the gathering and ultimately Seal, who is viciously mauled. The scene is funny and surreally zany.

As the film moves along and Conner's misfortunes mount, Owen tries to bring Conner and Lawrence together to mend a frayed friendship. We learn Lawrence's departure from the group was less than amicable, as Conner wrongly claimed songwriting credit for The Style Boyz's catalogue. The story's friendship theme comes to the forefront as the three friends slowly rediscover their past relationship. Mending broken fences, the three friends reunite for a pop awards show, which serves as a kind of happy coda to the "documentary."

As always the case with a mock-dock, one hopes the comic hits will outnumber the misses. With Popstar, the unfunny moments overpower the story. But the movie isn't without its inspired moments. One of my favorite scenes takes place during the three friend's reunion inside a limo. While Lawrence and Conner air out their animosities, a woman presses her naked breasts to the window. Unaware that a man's penis has replaced the breasts behind the window, Conner points to what he thinks are breasts while trying to make a point.

Samberg is an ideal Conner. It seems he's played this character in some incarnation or another, on Saturday Night Live. He is quite funny but as a writer, he has comedic lapses. Tim Meadows stands out as the double-dealing manager but Justin Timberlake is unfunny as Conner's personal chef.

The periods between laughs began to stretch until they became all-encompassing. But the experience was far from dismal. I can see Samberg and Company coming up with something terrific, given more opportunities in future projects but Popstar is a mostly a miss. Maybe next time.

The End of the Tour

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: James Ponsoldt/Starring: Jason Segel, Jesse Eisenberg, Mamie Gummer and Joan Cusack

Movies about writers must be a challenge to promote because 1)There aren't a lot of great movies about writers (I'm trying hard to think of one) 2)Your audience(s) is/are already limited and 3)An anti-intellectual nation such as America is hardly literate, which means Americans would rather not see a movie about a writer it doesn't or won't read. Even one of our country's great scribes; David Foster Wallace, isn't likely to draw an Avengers sized audience (if we only lived in that kind of country!). I'm always naive enough to believe people who pick up a book at least ten times a year (a small number I know, but most Americans can't manage even that) will have read Wallace.

Director James Ponsoldt's film was one of the summer releases I anticipated the most. I thought the idea of making a film about David Foster Wallace quite audacious. The task is unenviable; ardent fans (like myself) are sure to feel most of what they see or hear is wrong. But the fact that Ponsoldt's film is based on author Dave Lipsky's book about Wallace: Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip With David Foster Wallace ; I was confident about accuracy.

But The End of the Tour isn't a biopic, so facts about Wallace are less important to Lipsky and Ponsoldt than the more banal aspects of his life.

Lipsky is played by the nervously intelligent Jesse Eisenberg while Jason Segel inhabits the role of Wallace wonderfully.

An author in his own right, Lipsky joined the staff of Rolling Stone in the 1990s'. Aware of the furor caused by Infinite Jest, Lipsky approaches the editor about writing a piece on Wallace rather than "teen boy bands." Securing his consent, Lipsky travels to Wallace's home in rural Illinois to join him on what is the final leg of a book tour, which concludes in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Lipsky, though initially skeptical about Wallace prior to his reading of Infinite Jest, recognizes his brilliance immediately afterward. His awareness of Wallace's immense talent hangs over the interviews and their casual time together like a Blue whale.

The initial meeting at Wallace's house is low-key and conversational, unlike an interview. With the bandana on his head, Segel bears a scary resemblance to the genuine article and I often forgot during the movie that I wasn't watching Wallace himself.

Lipsky and Wallace become comfortable in the other's presence and after a diner dinner, both writers probe and fish for information. On the way home, the two stop at a convenience store for gobs of junk food, which Wallace heaps on the counter. Lipsky uses his Rolling Stone stipend to pick up the tab.

The conversations occasionally drift into writing and literature and Wallace's authorial goals but somehow the mundane often creeps into the chats. A poster of Alanis Morrisette in Wallace's kitchen is a source of puzzlement for Lipsky. Wallace explains his reason for putting the poster on his wall; citing not only her sex appeal but also her regular person charm. Her regular-person appeal fits into one of the film's themes, which deals with Wallace's self-conscious effort to appear as a regular person too, in spite of Lipsky's doubts about his sincerity.

As Lipsky accompanies Wallace to his bookstore appearances, their friendly rapport is often interrupted by Rolling Stone article imperatives. So often, Lipsky's hand-held recorder comes out, becoming an intrusive presence in otherwise relaxed situations.

Wallace introduces Lipsky to two attractive blonde women; one of whom he dated in graduate school. Wallace begins to grow suspicious of Lipsky's passively flirtatious manner with his ex-girlfriend, which festers until the two men become mutually suspicious and mutually hostile. The tension quite naturally complicates the interview process.

Sensitive questions regarding Wallace's alcoholism and his depression meet with tentative but ultimately forthright answers and at moments, questions about his writing make their way back into interviews. We learn something about his neuroses, like his acute fear of offending people and his quirks, like his addiction to T.V. and his regular dancing at a local church; past-times we hardly attribute to the writer of Infinite Jest.

Though literature is the background against which the story unfolds, the film's real focus is the relationship between Lipsky and Wallace and how the makings of a friendship blossoms from what is ostensibly an interview. In the end, Lipsky's piece never saw the pages of Rolling Stone but based on the film's epilogue, the impact of the experience became significant.

Ponsoldt's film is odd in that it isn't a portrait of a great writer but a glimpse of an ordinary time in an extraordinary man's life; witnessed by a man who realizes he is in the presence of greatness.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film and found the interplay between Segel and Eisenberg to be quite absorbing. In retrospect, one could say the film is an answer to My Dinner With Andre. Conversations make up the drama and essentially carry the film. We want to get inside Wallace's head and know what the man was like. If the movie stumbles, it is in its depiction of Wallace himself for we see so much of his taste for junk culture but none of his taste for literature. In interviews, Wallace does come across as an every-guy albeit with a keen intellect and a superior grasp of the English language. We get a lot of the every-guy part but not so much of the latter. In over-humanizing their subject, Ponsoldt and Lipsky suppress that which made Wallace great. Nevertheless, I found everything about the movie beguiling.

But, as aforementioned, the film will only appeal to those who are more than a little familiar with Wallace and his writing. For those who find the man and his work compelling, The End of the Tour is a rewarding experience and also a tragic one.

Welcome to Me

**Spoiler Alert**

Director Shira Piven/Starring: Kristen Wiig, Wes Bentley, Joan Cusack, Jennifer Jason Leigh, James Marsden, Tim Robbins, Linda Cardellini and Thomas Mann

Shira Piven's Welcome to Me is one of those films that is so self-consciously weird that its weirdness becomes a tiresome contrivance. It goes well out of its way to be strange but at times it can elicit a chuckle when it isn't trying too hard to be bizarre. Director Shira Piven's film makes a reasonably good entrance, only to stumble then drag itself to a whimsical end.

Kristen Wiig plays Alice Klieg, a manic-depressive living in the fictional southern Californian town of Palm Desert. She spends part of her days in therapy, where Dr. Daryl Moffet (Tim Robbins) administers psychiatric guidance and prescriptions. The other part are spent in front of the T.V., idolizing Oprah Winfrey; lip-syncing her on-screen patter and gleaning morsels of Oprah-wisdom dispensed on air.

Among Alice's possessions are small stacks of losing lottery tickets. In an early scene, Alice tunes in to a televised lottery drawing. As the numbers are called, we see that Alice has won the $86 million (actually a lesser amount for a lump sum) jackpot. Ecstatic and dumbfounded, she can barely breath the words "I'm a winner" into the phone to claim the prize. True to her eccentric nature, she makes a hotel casino her second home then gathers her family and friends for a celebratory meal.

Enthralled with Oprah and her inspirational words, Alice and her friend Gina (Linda Cardellini), visit a live taping of an infomercial at a local T.V. station. During the show, when the host Gabe Ruskin (Wes Bentley) asks for a volunteer to demonstrate a product's effectiveness, Alice is only too eager to walk on stage. The show producer and staff in the booth express dismay when the erratic Alice, commandeers the show with her off-the-wall volatility.

Afterwards, the two brothers who control the station's content; Gabe and Rich Ruskin (James Marsden) invite Alice into their conference room to meet with the production staff. In the course of discussion, Alice lets it be known she wants her own show and when asked what it would be about, she says, "me." Of course the staff, including producer Dawn Hurley (Joan Cusack) and Deb Moseley (Jennifer Jason Leigh) voice their objections, only to be silenced by Alice's $15 million dollar check, which covers the projected production cost of her show.

I don't know about other film-goers, but I always find it excruciating to watch a film about a lottery winner who is hell-bent on squandering his/her fortune on frivolous nonsense. At this point in the film, the total and imminent exhaustion of the fortune seems like a fait accompli.

The show, with its zeitgeist-appropriate title Welcome to Me is naturally a bizarre spectacle that could have been the brainchild of David Lynch and Luis Bunuel.

The show begins with Alice arriving on a swan followed by re-enactments of slights suffered by Alice during her life, which share air-time with cooking segments featuring outlandish and unpalatable culinary creations, like a frosting-topped meatloaf. The staff, looking on in the booth, watch incredulously. The show manages to draw viewers and even a few admirers.

Gabe begins to have qualms about his brother's willingness to exploit Alice. Before long, Gabe and Alice begin a romance, which catches a snag during one of her rage-filled, flights of mental instability. Her erratic behavior and emotional vulnerability begin to impair her judgement. Alice has a fling with a fawning fan named Rainer Ybarra (Thomas Mann) which doesn't escape Gabe's notice.

As the show continues on its weird course and Alice's un-medicated self holds the production staff captive, her self-involved antics begin to wear on her loved ones, particularly her best friend Gina.

I suppose Piven's film is commentary on the narcissism gripping the country and it makes a convincing case of its pandemic reach. Approaching the topic with absurdist humor is a good way to go but the film asphyxiates in its weirdness. Don't get me wrong; I like weird but when it's a film's selling point rather than an element of its storytelling, it becomes a tiresome affectation, as it is here. As the story progresses, Alice's condition becomes less funny and more tedious.

A film like Welcome to Me could only end happily, which it does. Alice comes to acknowledge her ego-centrism and makes an extraordinarily selfless gesture to her best friend Gina.

The supporting cast was quite terrific when given their time though most are consigned to straight-men roles. When you have actors like Robbins and Cusack; who wield considerable comedic ability, exiled to the margins, it becomes a liability.

As previously stated, the film generates a modicum of laughs but I mostly found the movie to be a one-note joke. If manic-depressive narcissists are your company of choice, then Piven's film is for you. I suppose there is a better comedy out there dealing with this small cross-section of American society but that's another film. At least this one makes a case for not skipping one's meds.