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Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping | 2016 | R | - 8.4.10

In this mockumentary a famous rapper (Andy Samberg) drops his second album, it fails, a band member quits, and his fiancée dumps him. He agrees to a new opening act to spark interest, but becomes jealous of its rising popularity and his worried fans and friends wonder if he can make a comeback or will have to drop out of the business. Also with Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, Tim Meadows, Sarah Silverman, Maya Rudolph, Joan Cusack and Imogen Poots. Directed by Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone. [1:26]

SEX/NUDITY 8 - We see nudity from inside a limousine, as if we were sitting in the back: a topless woman shakes her breasts against the rear passenger side window of the limo and another woman presses her bare buttocks on the window and we see, "I love [a red heart] Connor" painted on them in lipstick; nude male genitals and upper thighs press against the same window, with a woman holding her face next to them and looking into the car (we see the penis, testicles, and bare thighs rub on the glass) until the window goes down and the man sticks his penis and testicles over the glass and a man sitting inside the car autographs the penis, and then raises the window as the other man backs away.
 We see a man standing on a stage fully nude (his penis is tucked in between his thighs). We see the image of a naked man on stage being sent to other people on a cell phone with a cartoon balloon in front of the genitals. A nude man lies close to the camera on a massage table and we see his bare buttocks (he is having his buttocks waxed). We see two close-ups of a woman's large cleavage. Several men appear shirtless in a swimming pool. Women are shown wearing bikinis as they remove robes and jump into water with lots of splashing that conceals them. A man stands in the center of 12 women wearing bikinis that reveal large cleavage, abdomens and navels. A music video shows a woman wearing a cleavage-baring short dress singing the repeated line, "Turn up the beef" as a couple of men pull off their shirts to reveal bare chests and backs. A club performance features a woman wearing a short red dress that reveals substantial cleavage as she dances and writhes to rock music while several other women wearing short-shorts and sports bras dance behind her (we see moderate cleavage and bare thighs). A performance shows women wearing mesh, neck-high cat suits as they dance and we can see thighs shaking.
 A woman pushes a man onto a couch, lies on top of him and kisses him as the scene ends. A man and a woman kiss passionately for several seconds. Two scenes show two clothed men simulating anal sex and the first scene is a hologram of a man and himself. A show girl wearing a short dress faces forward and backs up to a male singer, and then twerks into his groin area; we see her breasts bounce in a low neckline.
 A farmer using a cell phone says about a braying goat in his arms, "I'm having sex with my girlfriend." A music video features a man singing the refrain "I'm not gay, not gay" several times as gay and lesbian couples exit a church after marriage ceremonies.
 A club holding a rock concert is called Club [F-word deleted] with the two middle letters obscured on TV news. A singer shouts about a jumpsuit costume, "Oh my gonads!" and later, "It's designed for my junk." A man says that he is going to Tweet a picture of his penis so that people will know he has one.

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - A man punches another man in the groin and the second man yells in pain. An older man punches a younger man, who falls but is not injured. A man insults an older man, who shouts him down and slaps him in the face before the first man apologizes. Two men scuffle on stage, but no one is hurt. A turtle snaps at the finger of a man who says, "Ouch."
 A man says his hobby is flat-lining once a week to see God; the camera cuts to him shirtless, lying on his back on a table with his chest and head attached to a vital signs monitor as a woman applies a defibrillator and he sits up shouting.
 Six wolves howl with music at a party, and then attack reporters nearby (we do not see blood); a wolf drags a man off-screen by the ankle twice and we see a magazine cover of the man's eye covered with a bandage and in another photo he is wearing an eye patch. We see a Viking funeral where a man floats a white-wrapped object (a turtle) into a swimming pool and ignites it. A man holds a baby turtle and a huge greenish object rushes across the screen and pushes the man.
 A photo shows a man wearing a wetsuit pointing a long three-pronged spear at a pod of dolphins (we hear that he is hunting them). An album cover features a man in the air, thrusting a long spear into a tank below him that is firing a mortar. A man in a music video throws a heavy hammer at the camera and the scene ends. A video game shows a cartoon of knives attacking a deer that turns into cuts of meat (no blood is shown).
 A music album is released and is broadcast on all of America's electronic kitchen appliances and owners become angry; we see a few people breaking appliances and tossing them in the street while reporters on a TV show laugh about it, and make odd faces. An angry man uses a long sword to cut up a stand up billboard of himself. A man shouts that a bee is buzzing around and he says that he is getting out his flamethrower; we hear the weapon discharge as he and another man shout and the scene ends.
 A man argues loudly with his several people several times. A male singer says a critic gave him a "[scatological term deleted] emoji" for a performance and we see the emoji on an email. A man asks, "Did I [scatological term deleted] my pants?" and a woman says no. We hear a woman on a phone say, "Taylor Swift was arrested for murder." A man sees a bathroom and says, "Whew!" A woman off-screen shouts, "Did you take a [scatological term deleted] in the Anne Frank House?"
 A turtle growls and vomits red material onto a carpet. A man puts a turtle in his car and the animal vomits red material into his lap. A man brushes his teeth, but we see no foam or spit. An unseen bird defecates white material onto a man's shoulder and in another scene, onto a fencepost next to him and into his mouth (he yells and runs off screen). A man in a kitchen gives three men pancakes and after the three men taste them, the first man says he put dog feces in them; the other men grimace and look sick, but do not vomit.
 A cartoon unicorn on a TV screen emits a rainbow out of its rear end. A man sits on a toilet with his bare knees and lower thighs exposed to the camera as another man runs in and steals the toilet paper. On a concert stage, a fully clothed man sits on a toilet, singing. A talk show host has a large bandage around one finger.

LANGUAGE 10 - About 80 F-words and its derivatives (4 are bleeped on a TV screen but we can see the lips forming the words), 1 obscene hand gesture, 8 sexual references, 60 scatological terms, 31 anatomical terms, 17 mild obscenities, 3 derogatory terms for African-Americans, name-calling (crazy, insane, lame, weird, retarded, ridiculous, freak, whack, nerd, has-been, young blood, old retake, Skynet, Garbage Pail Kid), exclamations (shut-up), 12 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Jesus, God, Holy [scatological term deleted]).

SUBSTANCE USE - A man holds a lit marijuana cigarette, a man inhales from a bong and blows opaque smoke into the face of another man (he falls down), several men and women pass around a marijuana cigarette in a room in a club, a man grows marijuana in a field behind his house, a man pours a bushel basket of harvested marijuana onto a table and three men smoke marijuana cigarettes from a bong made from a music award figurine, a man smokes a marijuana cigarette outside at night, a man mentions the drugs Ecstasy and LSD, two women (mother and daughter) snort cocaine at home, and a cartoon still shot shows a cat snorting cocaine and its eyes going wide. Party and club scenes show men and women drinking tall cocktails as well as wine and shots of liquor, two men at a breakfast table have mimosa drinks (we do not see them drink) with a champagne bottle on the table, men and women wave beer cans and beer bottles as they cheer and jump up and down, a house has empty beer bottles on a table in the living room and a table in the bedroom, and the back of a limo features a decanter of amber liquor and short glasses (no one drinks).

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Fame, money, power, music as a career, music fans, gangster rap, drug abuse, misunderstandings, admitting mistakes, compromising, starting over, courage, honesty, integrity, forgiveness, friendship.

MESSAGE - Pop stardom is fleeting. Performers must learn to tolerate the highs and lows of the business and honor their friendships.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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We are a totally independent website with no connections to political, religious or other groups & we neither solicit nor choose advertisers. You can help us keep our independence with a donation.

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