An ego-tripping dad hogs the spotlight at a Korean idol competition in 'K-Pops!'

The neo-soul vocalist Anderson .Paak has 13 Grammy awards and a grin that could powerfulness the metropolis of Oxnard, wherever helium grew up playing drums successful church, assured that helium was calved to entertain. His optimism and bosom are inspiring — a kid of Black and Korean practice who shouldered losing some parents to incarceration and inactive emerged with a buoyant persona.

So he’ll beryllium good proceeding that his directing debut “K-Pops!” isn’t precise good. Like his faintly autobiographical quality B.J. says with a grin, “Haters gonna hate.” It’s the archetypal clip I’ve heard idiosyncratic present that enactment and genuinely believed they meant it.

The script, co-written by .Paak and Khaila Amazan, is astir a percussionist pounding fruitlessly connected the doorway to success. We archetypal conscionable .Paak’s B.J. successful 2009 Los Angeles drumming astatine a live-band karaoke nighttime with a radical of chap workaday musicians played by his real-life backers, Free Nationals. Despite each grounds to the contrary — there’s a just magnitude of it — B.J. is definite that the assemblage has travel to spot him. He’s a showboat who dresses similar Bootsy Collins and vows he’s the adjacent Phil Collins. Stardom is conscionable astir the adjacent screen song.

When the movie cuts to 12 years later, thing has changed, including his chutzpah. The bar’s proprietor (Jonnie Park, a.k.a. the L.A.-based rapper Dumbfoundead) and B.J.’s parent (Yvette Nicole Brown, visibly having a blast), conspire to nonstop him overseas truthful they tin flirt with each different successful peace. And truthful cocky B.J. zooms crossed the water to reboot his vocation connected “Wildcard,” a South Korean world contention amusement that narrows 52 aspiring K-pop idols to 1 winner. B.J. is not a contestant; he’s conscionable successful the band. But he’s got plans to cozy up to the show’s instrumentality favorite, a preening platinum blond named Kang (Kevin Woo of “KPop Demon Hunters,” a erstwhile subordinate of the lad radical U-KISS).

The “Wildcard” subplot ne'er makes overmuch sense. K-Pop footwear campy is notoriously hard and the show’s cruel hostess, Diamond (Cathy Shim), has already pared the hopefuls down to the apical quarter. Yet, these supposedly most-promising stars are mostly hapless wannabes leaning connected their skills successful nunchucks and mime. After convincing america that B.J. is middling and delusional, the movie has the feature to person his quality go an advisor, which, successful nonmusical terms, is similar if I barged into the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu and insisted its culinary students marque hollandaise with Miracle Whip.

The clang people successful Korean euphony is conscionable a speedy slideshow presumption positive a lecture delivered by a likable 11-year-old contestant named Tae Young (.Paak’s existent lad Soul Rasheed). By now, the film’s upbeat “Afterschool Special” gusto easy steamrolls america to judge that the kid is B.J.’s long-lost kid with estranged ex-girlfriend Yeji (Jee Young Han). The lad was raised successful Seoul to judge that his begetter is the histrion Idris Elba, whom helium has ne'er met either. (The champion gag successful the movie is simply a mournful changeable of Elba connected the DVD screen of the Tyler Perry movie “Daddy’s Little Girls.”)

Rasheed tin bash a beauteous large British accent and boasts a relaxed and earthy assurance honed from starring successful his ain drama skits connected YouTube. His charm and his passionateness for K-pop are the reasons that .Paak claims helium made the movie, though .Paak has besides quipped that by the clip they got connected set, Rasheed was much into the metallic set Slipknot. Frankly, I would person been conscionable arsenic funny to spot that mentation of the storyline — oregon 1 that took Tae’s determination to triumph “Wildcard” much seriously. Two scenes extremity with a fart joke; lone 1 truly lets him sing and dance, and he’s not bad.

Before anyone starts quoting the cautionary communicative of Jaden Smith, different kid whisked into acting by his instrumentalist begetter Will Smith, fto maine accidental that Jaden, too, was a bully young performer. The backlash was a bigger occupation than his talent. In a coy spot of casting, Smith appears present arsenic a “Wildcard” justice alongside the D.J. Diplo, and the publication besides works a cameo from Saweetie, arsenic good arsenic name-drops of .Paak’s superstar collaborators, including André 3000, Dr. Dre, Childish Gambino and Bruno Mars.

Really, this is each conscionable an excuse for .Paak to play the ham. He’s padded the movie with shots of B.J. grooving by himself successful a taxicab oregon splitting his pants portion showing disconnected his creation moves. (His cuddly-chic costumes are by Bao Tranchi.) When .Paak’s B.J. irritates the different characters with yet different drum solo, the self-aware jokes astir his self-centeredness would onshore amended if “K-Pops!” wasn’t convinced that the assemblage wants arsenic overmuch of him on-screen arsenic possible.

The intended connection is that B.J. indispensable halt chasing the spotlight to fto his lad beryllium the star. But his quality can’t bash it and neither tin he. In fairness, the rubric is simply a hint that technically the absorption was ne'er Korean music. The communicative was ever astir Pops learning to beryllium a dad.

There are a fewer good scenes successful the film’s astir two-hour moving time: a surreal imagination that takes spot successful a church, a comic insert of a fried chickenhearted commercial, an animated interstitial wherever Yeji and B.J.’s break-up is illustrated by an representation of her clinging pathetically to her boyfriend’s headphones, trying to tug his attraction backmost to her. Thematically, the infinitesimal that lands with the astir assurance is erstwhile B.J. schools his lad connected his Black American creator roots. “The Jacksons walked successful bid for BTS to dance,” .Paak’s B.J. insists, underscoring his constituent astir the power of funk and stone euphony by squeezing successful an Earth, Wind & Fire performance during which helium finagles an excuse to articulation them onstage.

It’s a beardown statement and I privation the movie had continued to marque it. This is the close clip — and .Paak could beryllium the close prima — to earnestly research what it means that the Top 40 is shifting eastward. Americans person agelong taken the brushed powerfulness of our presumption astatine the halfway of the pop-cultural beingness for granted. But this escapade successful Seoul is simply an ego trip.