Pop Star (2016), directed by Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone

Comedian Andy Samberg’s mockumentary collaboration with his good mates Schaffer and Taccone is hit and miss. It’s biggest problem is that times have changed a lot since Spinal Tap and it can’t go extreme enough to send up its targets – many of them really are that ridiculous all the time. The best parts are the celebrity cameos – Pink, Mariah Carey, Fifty Cent, Usher, Ringo Starr, Seal and many more are very funny. Samberg is good as Conner4Real, former boy band member gone solo, embarking on the difficult second album. The songs are clever and shocking and Samberg can actually sing, but the dialogue is lame and largely unfunny. A few standout scenes such as Proposes With Wolves are amusing. Well-aimed shots at Justin Beiber, U2 and Kanye West, among many others, hit the mark but are not enough to sustain a whole film.