Plot
Conner Friel, a musical prodigy, forms a pop rap group dubbed "The Style Boyz" with his childhood friends Lawrence Dunn and Owen Bouchard at a young age. They almost instantly gain fame in the music industry and inspire many of today's musicians, who extol Conner and the group in mock interviews. However, after failing to receive credit for writing Conner's guest verse on a popular single, Lawrence leaves the group.
After the Style Boyz disband, Conner begins a solo act, taking on the name "Conner4Real", with Owen as his DJ. Lawrence begins farming in Colorado after a failed attempt at going solo. Conner's debut album Thriller, Also rockets to the top of the charts, and his fame increases.
In 2015, Conner releases his highly anticipated second album, Connquest. It is universally panned for reasons such as that he wrote every song himself and used hundreds of different producers rather than Owen's original beats. Because of the album's low sales, Conner's manager Harry suggests having Aquaspin, a home appliance manufacturer, sponsor the tour. The company's appliances begin playing Conner's songs when in use, causing a nationwide power outage.
Conner begins his tour, but the shows do not sell as well as he had hoped. Harry suggests they hire up and coming rapper Hunter the Hungry as an opening act, and the ticket sales begin to rise. Conner adds new gimmicks to his act, including a robotic mask for Owen, who feels increasingly ostracized, and publicizes his relationship with actress Ashley Wednesday. However, when a trick is botched in Nashville, Conner is exposed naked (without his penis visible) mid-concert and becomes the subject of mockery. Conner's publicist Paula Klein suggests he pull another publicity stunt to deflect attention from his humiliation.
Conner decides to propose to his Ashley on E! with a display including several trained Party Wolves (since a psychic mentioned that Ashley was a wolf in a past life) and a performance by Seal. Seal's vocals agitate the wolves and after Harry tells a Party Wolves handler that he cannot stop the performance, they break loose, mauling the press, the orchestra, and their handlers. Seal fights one of them, claiming his scars are the result of a former wolf attack. Before he can enter the limousine, he gets mauled by an unseen wolf as Conner, Ashley, and Harry flee. A news report states that Seal sued Conner over his latest wolf injuries as Seal's fans and the public castigate Conner. After the incident, Conner and Owen appear as guests on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon . The two perform the "Donkey Roll", the Style Boyz's biggest hit, onstage with Fallon filling in for Lawrence, which is humiliating for Conner and gratifying for Owen.
Later, a news report states that Ashley has broken up with Conner.
Worried about the declining quality of his friend's music in light of low sales and after watching The Parent Trap , Owen sets up a meeting between himself, Conner, and Lawrence in a limousine in the hopes of bringing them back together. The limousine gets mobbed by fans, and the reunion ends poorly when Conner refuses to acknowledge that Lawrence wrote the track that launched his career. As the solo tour progresses, Hunter's career takes off, selling more records than Conner and extending the length of his opening performances.
At one of the concerts, Hunter announces that he will not leave the stage, angering Conner. Conner rushes the stage, but a brawl ensues when Hunter admits that he orchestrated Conner's wardrobe malfunction. Conner demands that Harry fire Hunter as the opener, but when Harry refuses, he discovers that Harry has signed Hunter. Feeling betrayed and frustrated with his declining popularity, Conner fires Harry. Connquest is later knocked off the charts and Aquaspin decides to pull their sponsorship resulting in the remainder of the tour being cancelled.
Conner's feelings of betrayal by Harry, Seal (now married to Ashley), and a Yelp review on PartyWolves.com spark him to test the loyalty of Owen and his yes men by making them pancakes mixed with dog feces. Owen, offended that Conner considered him among his "lackeys", leaves the crew. After this, and the death of his beloved pet turtle Maximus, Conner sinks into a depression, becomes increasingly erratic, and fights Martin Sheen.
Conner moves back to Sacramento, living in his mother's house while she is touring with Fall Out Boy. He begins drinking heavily, starts selling childish horse drawings online, and develops a passion for dressage. Checking up on Conner, Paula forces Conner to leave the house and takes him to a club where Owen is performing a DJ set of his own. Under the cloak of the music, Conner understands how poorly he has conducted himself in recent months.
Owen's production skills but lack of singing ability in the set cause Conner and Owen to realize how much they need each other. They reconcile and decide to finally make amends with Lawrence. In Colorado, Conner gives Lawrence his Poppy music award, apologizes, and acknowledges his contributions. It is revealed that Lawrence grows marijuana on his farm, and as the three get high and collaborate in Lawrence's studio, Conner receives news from Paula that a six-minute slot has opened for Conner to perform at the Poppys due to Taylor Swift being arrested for murder. With encouragement from his friends, he decides to both reunite the Style Boyz and continue his work as Conner4Real.
At the Poppys, Hunter is contractually obligated to promote Aquaspin while presenting an award, prompting an argument with Mariah Carey. Harry orders him to find himself a new manager after Hunter insults him backstage. Conner reconciles with Harry and later finds out that the six-minute slot has been shortened to three, forcing him to perform either a Conner4Real song or a Style Boyz song. Conner decides to perform the Style Boyz's new song "Incredible Thoughts" featuring Michael Bolton.
As Hunter leaves in defeat, Conner reflects on the lessons he learned and the value of holding onto relationships after reaching stardom interspersed with such musings as if Lawrence knew a crew member at the Poppys who kissed him and why Deborah, an Aquaspin employee who he had met with previously, was backstage. Conner introduces a new baby turtle named Maximus II before one of the Party Wolves attacks him.
During the credits, reporters from CMZ talk about the Style Boyz getting back together.
