>>> Pop Star never stops being big fun

POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING (Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone). 86 minutes. Opens Friday (June 3). See Listing. Rating: NNNN

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is the former Untitled Lonely Island Feature, and if you’re familiar with Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone and Andy Samberg’s enthusiastic swagger from their albums or their breakout Saturday Night Live digital shorts… well, Popstar amplifies that to a gargantuan scale.

Popstar combines the pop savvy of the trio’s SNL work with the filmmaking skills honed on projects like Hot Rod and MacGruber. (All three write and star, with Schaffer and Taccone sharing directorial duties this time around.)

It’s the entirely clichéd behind-the-music story of Conner4Real (Samberg). Once a member of the Style Boyz, Conner let the group fall apart as he embraced solo success – keeping producer/DJ Owen (Taccone) while songwriter Lawrence (Schaffer) left to become a farmer. 

Now a cheerful and utterly self-absorbed rock god, Conner is trying to keep his massive concert tour going as the world rejects his latest album – turning his relationship with his girlfriend (Imogen Poots) into a public spectacle, recruiting a rising rapper (Chris Redd) who steals his spotlight and pushing away the handful of real friends he has left.

There’s nothing new here in terms of story and, as a character, Conner doesn’t have the go-for-broke trickster energy of Aldous Snow, the debauched icon Russell Brand played to perfection in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him To The Greek. But Samberg’s essential sweetness keeps Conner’s cluelessness from turning too sour, and his energy makes Lonely Island arena rockers like Finest Girl and Equal Rights surprisingly credible while remaining totally ridiculous.

Popstar’s not revelatory, but it’s an awful lot of fun. With Schaffer, Taccone and Samberg goofing on recording industry clichés and finding perfect roles for pals like Tim Meadows, Will Arnett and Justin Timberlake, it’s impossible not to get caught up in all the dopey dopeness.