In the realms of modern comedy, there really only seem to be
two groups that are holding the charge in terms of white guys doing funny but
still well composed comedic hip hop: Epic Rap Battles Of History and The Lonely
Island. One of the few properly consistent acts to spawn from the current era
of Saturday Night Live, Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone have
entered the realms of meme legend on numerous occasions with hits like Jizz In
My Pants, I Just Had Sex and their Yuletide slow jam Dick In A Box. Their music, while not
exactly the most consistent on an album basis, combined a keen eye for poking
fun at pop music trends with an actual ear for beats and music to create some
seriously funny songs.
Naturally, when news hit that they would be bringing a full-length cinematic production this year, you better believe that I was anxious for it… until, for some reason, it was pulled from Australian cinemas. Luckily, this did get a DVD release so I could include it in this year’s list of films, but how is the film itself? Is it a gem that our screwed-up priorities just let slip through the cracks, or should we be thankful that this didn’t get a wide release?
Naturally, when news hit that they would be bringing a full-length cinematic production this year, you better believe that I was anxious for it… until, for some reason, it was pulled from Australian cinemas. Luckily, this did get a DVD release so I could include it in this year’s list of films, but how is the film itself? Is it a gem that our screwed-up priorities just let slip through the cracks, or should we be thankful that this didn’t get a wide release?
The plot: Conner4Real (Adam Samberg), a rapper who went solo after his group Style Boyz broke up, is on the cusp of releasing his sophomore album Connquest. He, his manager Harry (Tim Meadows) and his DJ Owen (Jorma Taccone) set out on a promotional U.S. tour with underground opening act Hunter The Hungry (Chris Redd) in tow. The resulting film is a ‘documentary’ of the many trials and tribulations that befall Conner as he tries to get the public to accept his music and, possibly, rediscover why he got into music in the first place.
As a mockumentary about the current pop music scene, and rap
music in particular, it’s remarkably astute in its perceptions. The ridiculous
monetary excess, the history of Conner4Real that incorporates different artist
backgrounds into a rather cohesive whole, the acknowledgement of pop audiences
not caring as much as they should about who produces and writes the songs as
opposed as the name artist performing them, famous names like Questlove, 50
Cent and Nas showing up just to aggrandise the subject, even the milestones of
his career that speak way too accurately about what it really takes to get
famous in this business; it all rings true. Hell, Andy Samberg being brought
front and centre works both within the narrative of the film, as stories of
solo acts springing from popular groups is a common tale told in the music
business, and also fits in with their original ethos, as Akiva Schaffer and
Jorma Taccone’s main schtick within the group was how nondescript they were
(just look at their tracks like We’ll Kill U) while Samberg was always the
loud front man.
The reason why The Lonely Island, far more than possibly any
other comedic hip-hop group in recent memory, is regarded as well as they are
is because they actually create good music. This is by no means an exception to
that. From the Beastie Boys-aping of the Style Boyz to the Macklemore riffing
of Equal Rights to some more classic Lonely Island material like Bin Laden and
Humble, the Catchphrase verse that paints way too accurate a picture of today’s
meme rap landscape, even Hunter The Hungry’s overtly-grimy verses, all sound
pretty good within their respective spheres. It’s goofy and remarkably silly,
but it’s still music that’s worth listening to beyond just blind irony.
However, for as much as this works really well when taken
piece-by-piece, it doesn’t end up creating that full of a feature-length
production. To that end, I’ll make a (hopefully) quick comparison to the god of
all mockumentaries This Is Spinal Tap, and what ultimately makes that film as
iconic as it is whereas this one kind of falls short. Really, it boils down to
how seriously the respective actors were willing to take the material. In
Spinal Tap, the actors involved stuck to musical kayfabe like few others have
managed and the film had a very genuine feeling to it because of it. Here, as a
result of the usual Saturday Night Live winking-to-the-audience approach to
both the comedy and how the music aligns with it, it ends up feeling like too
much of a comedic hoax for the mockumentary end of things to really connect.
Comedy is always at its best, especially satire, when it is taken as seriously
as it would if this were framed as a drama, and unfortunately, there isn’t a
whole lot of that here. If this was a short film, it honestly would have worked
out a lot better as The Lonely Island have shown in the past, but here, the
jocular tone of the work starts to wear down on the audience before too long.
All in all, while it may be weaker than the sum of its parts,
that doesn’t mean that its parts are worth discarding in light of that. The
acting is solid, the direction may be a little too slick for a mockumentary but still works within its realm of spoofing
the overall aesthetic, the writing, when it actually takes time to focus, makes
very sharp and hilarious points about the current pop music scene and the music
shows The Lonely Island doing what they do best. Honestly, if you’re a fan of
these guys in any way, this is definitely worth checking out however you can.
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