Confessions of a Comedian: Reviewing The Lonely Island’s POPSTAR

There is apparently a disconnect between my view of what a comedy should do and the greenlighting criteria of Hollywood’s studios. Despite my personal identification as a writer and performer of comedy, I have a general distaste for movies bearing the label “comedy.”

This has been a learned disposition. Continual disappointment in the form of humor pursued by big budget films has turned me off to this otherwise wildly popular genre.

Most comedies these days should have instead been listed as “cop-outs.” The f-bombs, scantily clad women, homoerotic tensions, and overall permeation of the profane stand as examples of writers pursuing not quality comedy but easy laughs. They use these shocking and eye-catching elements as jokes in and of themselves, and the end result of their endeavors are films “funny for the sake of being funny” that bear no universality and therefore hold no longevity.

POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING, however, pursues a greater purpose than merely to entertain. This is a film which I believe recaptures what comedy can and should do and, in doing so, sets our culture’s course for smarter, more original — and consequently better — content.

Yes, almost all dialogue in POPSTAR is first filtered through a certain amount of profanity, and truly no form of sex proves too risque for the final edit. These elements, however, rather than existing for a shock factor, serve to illuminate the broader cultural message of this film. POPSTAR does not try to be funny for the sake of being funny; it uses satire as a vehicle for calling out the culture of the day. Let it be understood that obscenity and inventiveness are not mutually exclusive; Shakespeare, Joyce, and Bradbury shy away from neither innuendos nor explicit sexuality, and we herald them as timeless innovators of both written and performed literature.

In POPSTAR, we are intended to see ourselves in the ridiculousness played out on screen of characters pursuing fame over friendship, affection over authenticity, and money over mindfulness, a story told through the easily digestible lens of all that traditionally comes with an R-rating.

I praise The Lonely Island for their fearless condemnation of a society fixated on the instant gratification of popularity, and I admire their accessible method of doing so. They speak to audiences through the use of low brow forms of humor to serve a higher purpose. This is comedy written and executed with intentionality and not just another nip slip.