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Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (Lonely Island film)

Started by up_the_hampipe, May 23, 2016, 07:35:13 PM

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The main thing I'd say against the film is that it isn't quite as good as Walk Hard, which runs over quite a bit of the same ground, and is a straight-up comedy masterpiece

samadriel



Quote from: Monsieur Verdoux on April 11, 2019, 06:26:07 PM
The main thing I'd say against the film is that it isn't quite as good as Walk Hard, which runs over quite a bit of the same ground, and is a straight-up comedy masterpiece


Aye, Walk Hard was the last great spoof, because it actually bothered to satirize not only a genre of film (the music-bio-drama), but a time and place that maybe didn't come from first hand experience, but certainly with a healthy dose of reverential affection... It also cast a lot of serious actors, rather than comedians (a la Airplane!, Top Secret!, The Naked Gun etc).  That was when having John C. Reilly in a comedy was someting of a novelty.

BritishHobo

Quote from: SavageHedgehog on April 11, 2019, 05:04:06 PM
I do always find it a bit irritating when they make a film where it's an obvious pastiche of someone, and then they mention the actual person or group in the film (e.g. Jacques Cousteau in Life Aquatic, Westboro in Red State). Takes me out of the world a little bit.

I've mentioned this in too many threads now, but Ben Elton's latest book introduces a character who's blatantly Germaine Greer. She's a hugely influential second-wave feminist whose books were huge in universities, but who in recent years has come to be viewed as a TERF by modern feminists for her outspoken views criticising transgender issues. Even her name makes it clear who she is - Geraldine Graham or thereabouts. And then a paragraph into her introduction, he says that she's been described as a lesser-Germaine Greer. Why? Did he not think it was obvious?

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: Monsieur Verdoux on April 11, 2019, 06:26:07 PM
The main thing I'd say against the film is that it isn't quite as good as Walk Hard, which runs over quite a bit of the same ground, and is a straight-up comedy masterpiece
This is very true.

Quote from: Monsieur Verdoux on April 11, 2019, 06:32:39 PM
It's funnier but not as charming as Hot Rod
This I'm not so sure about. I nearly developed spontaneous asthma from laughing at Hot Rod (specifically the mountain fall scene). I can't say the same about Popstar.

Admittedly it's been a while since I saw Hot Rod (about 12 years) so I might not be reliable there

Ant Farm Keyboard

Quote from: goinggoinggone on April 11, 2019, 06:34:22 PM

Aye, Walk Hard was the last great spoof, because it actually bothered to satirize not only a genre of film (the music-bio-drama), but a time and place that maybe didn't come from first hand experience, but certainly with a healthy dose of reverential affection... It also cast a lot of serious actors, rather than comedians (a la Airplane!, Top Secret!, The Naked Gun etc).  That was when having John C. Reilly in a comedy was someting of a novelty.

Black Dynamite was a great spoof. Eminently quotable, and done with a lot of knowledge about the source material.

McChesney Duntz

Quote from: BritishHobo on April 11, 2019, 09:35:10 PM
I've mentioned this in too many threads now, but Ben Elton's latest book introduces a character who's blatantly Germaine Greer. She's a hugely influential second-wave feminist whose books were huge in universities, but who in recent years has come to be viewed as a TERF by modern feminists for her outspoken views criticising transgender issues. Even her name makes it clear who she is - Geraldine Graham or thereabouts. And then a paragraph into her introduction, he says that she's been described as a lesser-Germaine Greer. Why? Did he not think it was obvious?

I'm pretty sure that's no more or less than a legal hedge - if the person they're basing a character on is mentioned as already existing in the fictional world, then they can't be nailed for defamation or character assassination or whatever else. It was pretty obvious in Boogie Nights - clearly, Dirk Diggler was based on John Holmes, to the point that PTA recreated several of his films and devised a comic-horror variation on the Wonderland Avenue murders, but there was a scene with Diggler complaining about Holmes slapping women around in his Johnny Wadd movies that was almost certainly inserted (ahem) at the last minute, given that the films Diggler eventually makes are almost shot-by-shot recreations of Wadd pictures, and he does his share of slapping women around in most of them. It almost always sticks out like a sore thumb (phooooaarr?).

McChesney Duntz

Quote from: Ant Farm Keyboard on April 11, 2019, 11:11:01 PM
Black Dynamite was a great spoof. Eminently quotable, and done with a lot of knowledge about the source material.

Absolutely. Two or three strong spoofs in a decade really isn't a bad average - consider how few, in the entire history of the form, ever actually worked. Even ZA and/or Z lost their parody mojo as the years went on.

Ferris

Quote from: Ant Farm Keyboard on April 11, 2019, 11:11:01 PM
Black Dynamite was a great spoof. Eminently quotable, and done with a lot of knowledge about the source material.

BD was great. I still mentally add "malt liquor" whenever someone says anaconda. I also think "anaconda" whenever someone says malt liquor.

I also liked Dewey Cox - similarly funny, and with knowledge of the source material. Worth it for Jack White's cameo alone.

Must give Popstar a go - I usually like Samberg as well. Not sure how this one passed me by.

Shaky

BASEketball was on TV last night and has some great bits despite being at the very arse-end of the whole ZAZ phenomena. Even with "lesser" material, David Zucker really knew how to direct a lovely bit o' comedy business.

Hey, Punk!

Is the film anything like the trailers, because those were absolutely abysmal? Not even a titter.

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: Shaky on April 14, 2019, 10:56:33 AM
BASEketball was on TV last night and has some great bits despite being at the very arse-end of the whole ZAZ phenomena. Even with "lesser" material, David Zucker really knew how to direct a lovely bit o' comedy business.

That's a classic. I really wish Trey and Matt did more live action work.