Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

The Lonely Island trio, Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer, wrote, directed and starred. Samberg plays Conner4Real, a pop star who lets a documentary crew film his collapse after a second solo album lands badly. Judd Apatow produced. At the box office it simply died. Against a 20 million dollar budget it took 9.5 million, opening eighth with 4.6 million. Critics went the other way, with 79 percent of 172 reviews positive. What makes it hold up is that the songs are genuinely well-built parodies rather than just jokes with a beat, which is why a cult audience found it over the following years. The people who made it have since said that mattered more than the opening weekend did. Who it is for: anyone who likes mockumentary and music-industry satire, and anything descended from Spinal Tap. Who it is not for: viewers with no appetite for crude humour. The film goes low more than once and means it.