Kevin Wozniak
John Carney makes movies about how music can connect people. Whether it’s two strangers in Once, brothers in Sing Street, or a mother and son in Flora & Son, Carney shows how the power of music can bring people closer together. His latest film, Power Ballad, is no different, as it is a movie about how a song can be interpreted in different ways to bring those closer to the ones they love.
Paul Rudd stars as Rick, the lead singer of a Dublin-based wedding band called The Bride and Groove. Rick was once a rising rockstar before he decided to give up on that dream and start a life with his Irish girlfriend (Marcella Plunkett). Rick still has visions of what his life could have been had he made the decision to focus on his music career.
The Bride and Groove play a show at a castle, where they meet Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), a former boy band member who is trying to make it as a solo artist. Danny joins the band on stage for a song and hits it off with Rick. Danny invites Rick back to his hotel room, where the two drink, smoke, and jam out for a night. During the jam session, Rick plays a song for Danny that he wrote, looking for any notes. Danny helps with a hook, the night concludes, and the two move on with their lives.
Months later, Rick hears the song he introduced to Danny on the radio. The song has become a massive hit, putting Danny on the map as a major pop star. The song, however, doesn’t feature a writing credit for Rick, despite him introducing the song to Danny, and because of this, nobody believes that Rick wrote the song. To recapture the feeling he had as a young musician, Rick desperately tries to reach Danny and get the credit he deserves.
Rick’s journey to talk to Danny and understand why he doesn’t have a credit for the song starts as fun, with missed phone calls, conversations with Danny’s cocky manager (Carney regular Jack Reynor), and Rick constantly pleading his case on how he wrote the song, despite no proof. The fun wavers the longer the movie goes, as Rick crashes out in a bad way and eventually flies from Dublin to Los Angeles to find Danny. It’s a bit ridiculous and eye-roll-inducing, especially when Rick finds Danny at a party after one of his concerts, and Rick goes from charming has-been to potential serial killer.
I never felt any drama in the Power Ballad, despite our main character going on a journey of desperation. It’s a light and breezy watch where the stakes were never fully felt. Maybe it’s having history with Carney as a writer and director and knowing that his characters always end up okay at the end, and the fact that the movie could really only end two ways, with Rick getting credit or going back to his normal life, I was never able to make the leap with what Rick was going through.
Rudd and Jonas give two of the best performances of their respective careers, with Rudd showing us desperation and sadness we have hardly seen in his work, and Jonas giving his strongest dramatic work to date. They have good chemistry together, and they both crush it on the mic. Rudd is especially fun to watch during the wedding band scenes. The song they are fighting over, titled “How to Write a Song Without You”, is a beautiful earworm of a song. They bring to life Carney’s themes of a song connecting people in different ways and artistic integrity.
Rudd and Jonas’s performance, plus a great song and a strong, connection-focused message, make Power Ballad an overall enjoyable watch despite its lack of drama.
