🎬 Modern Romance and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Oops … Forgot to write this newsletter last night, so I’m dashing it off during my lunch break. Pardon the brevity this week!

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MODERN ROMANCE is a witty and often dark comedy about a breakup instigated by a man so clueless — played by the excellent Albert Brooks — that I was getting strong Michael Scott vibes throughout. The movie peaks early: Brooks’ neurotic character Robert has an incredible early scene where he’s slowly succumbing to quaaludes while making a series of phone calls, including to a woman he met once and claims to be madly in love with, although he can’t exactly remember who she is or what she looks like. Unfortunately, Modern Romance has a mostly-unfunny subplot about Robert’s day job as a film editor, which culminates in one great sound gag that almost makes the preceding 20 minutes worthwhile. Ironically, I think the film could have used some sharper editing to focus on our main character and better set up his awful (in the best sense of the word) behavior in the final act.

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The mockumentary POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING sometimes feels hilariously original and otherwise feels like a modern remake of This Is Spinal Tap … but that’s one of my all-time favorite movies, so I’m more than OK with both modes. Andy Samberg, as always, excels at playing a lovably dumb person in extraordinary circumstances — in this case, as one of the most famous musicians in the mid-2010s — and the parodies of pop songs he and the other members of The Lonely Island perform are really strong and REALLY silly. Also very enjoyable: The parade of celebrity cameos, some of which happen so quickly that “blink and you’ll miss them” may be an understatement; if you’ve never seen this movie, I’d recommend not looking at the cast list in advance. 

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