Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Justin Bieber doesn’t have much to worry about. Whether it’s subversive or simply indulgent, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is a music-industry and pop-culture satire that’s about as insightful as a hashtag or a hologram.

Perhaps that’s the point, yet as this rapid-fire assortment of sight gags and one-liners strains to be hip and edgy, it misses the mark more often than it hits despite a charismatic performance by Andy Samberg in the title role.

The film uses the mockumentary structure to follow the rise and fall of Conner4Real (Samberg), who rose to fame as part of a boy-band trio known as the Style Boyz, alongside friends Owen (Jorma Taccone) and Lawrence (Akiva Schaffer). But then egos and greed tear them apart, with Conner embarking on a career as a solo superstar with a bad-boy image, with Owen as his deejay and the disgruntled Lawrence moving to a Colorado farm.

But just when his stardom peaks, a series of embarrassing public gaffes causes Conner’s fan base to erode and his new album to flop. As Conner tries to regain the spotlight, calls for a Style Boyz reunion might cause him to swallow his pride.

Popstar gets a boost from its impressive roster of industry cameos (too numerous to mention), many of who play along with the self-deprecating vibe, including real-life pop stars Mariah Carey, Seal, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Carrie Underwood and Pink.

As it pokes fun at the shallow and superficial pop-star persona, the film boasts a wide range of targets beyond Bieber, including sycophantic entourages, manufactured catchphrases and memes, manipulation of social causes, collaborative mash-ups, the need for constant social-media connectivity, clueless tabloids and paparazzi, cultural pandering, humbling comebacks, and the fickle nature of celebrity.

Samberg collaborated on the low-brow screenplay with directors Schaffer (The Watch) and Taccone (MacGruber), and even if their observations are hardly original, they do manage some big laughs along the way, including a hilarious TMZ parody.

In fact, the film is funniest at random intervals, with an abundant supply of outrageous non sequiturs that overshadow the more linear story arc about Conner’s rise and fall and his inevitable path to redemption. Maybe that sketchy nature is due to the numerous “Saturday Night Live” alums on both sides of the camera.

Yet even when it finds its rhythm, Popstar is just as forgettable as the chart-topping ditties it seeks to lampoon.

Rated R, 86 minutes.