POWER BALLD
Rated R
Writer/director John Carney believes in the power of music, there’s no doubt about that. For those of you who’ve seen his films, you already know this statement to be true. I’ve been a fan of Carney dating back to 2006’s ONCE, an intimate tale of two singer/songwriters (played by real life Swell Season musicians, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová) who would set out to make beautiful music together. This particular film broke out at the Sundance Film Festival nearly two decades ago and while I actually attended the fest that year, I failed to catch a screening of the film there. After seeing it in theaters months later, it went on to become my favorite film that year. I loved it so much, in fact, that I promised myself I’d never miss another John Carney film at Sundance and that’s a promise I managed to keep. In the years since ONCE made its Sundance debut, I was fortunate enough to catch both 2016’s wildly entertaining coming-of-age gem SING STREET (which included an impromptu live set by the film’s young stars) as well as the delightful (if a tad edgier) FLORA AND SON in 2023 at that legendary fest.
Why am I such a fan? Well, for starters, Carney has the uncanny ability to craft stories that inform the music at their heartfelt centers but he also has the deft ability to craft tunes that inform the films that they’re part of as well. This is to say that while this gifted storyteller is known for making musicals (with a more modern sensibility), he’s able to put his own unmistakable stamp on them. While the new music-tinged charmer, POWER BALLAD, doesn’t quite reach the heights of Carney’s very best (ONCE and SING STREET still reign supreme but it should be noted that those two films set the bar high), it’s still a wonderfully energetic crowd-pleaser, as was evident by the reactions from the enthusiastic crowd I was fortunate enough to experience it with at a special advance screening at Southern Utah’s Desertscape International Film Festival (presumably, the film wasn’t quite completed in time for Sundance 2026.)
In POWER BALLAD, the forever affable Paul Rudd is Rick Power, an American born singer/songwriter who, while performing in a band in his youth, meets the love of his life, Rachel (Marcella Plunkett.) Together, they make a home for themselves in Dublin, Ireland where they eventually bring daughter, Aja (Beth Fallon), into the world. As a family, they set out to live their best lives. This is to say that a now middle-aged Rick is perfectly content as a wedding singer. He fronts a band that prides itself on playing “the classics” with a few Rick Power originals sprinkled in for good measure.
Rick’s life takes a surprising detour, however, after meeting Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), an ex-boyband-singer-turned-fading-solo-popstar. Following a wedding gig (Danny just so happens to be one of the best friends of the groom), these two singer/songwriters from different walks of life end up bonding famously while getting high and engaging in a late night spontaneous jam session. Throughout this jam session, the duo share creative ideas that give birth to a couple of original works as well as repurposed versions of tunes that Rick and Danny have been messing around with individually. After this chance encounter, Rick and Danny go their separate ways.
Cut to; 6 months later. While purchasing items for his daughter, Rick hears his own song on the radio over the shopping mall PA system. It seems that popstar Danny Wilson has turned this tune (one that Rick had a tough time following through and completing on his own) into a smash hit. The problem is, no one seems to believe this mild-mannered wedding singer when he tries to convince them all that he actually wrote the song in the first place. Not even his own family. Thus, Rick sets out on a mission to claim what is rightfully his.
As expected, Rudd is really engaging in this film. The everyman role fits him like a glove and this is a big key to this movie working as well as it does. Likewise, Nick Jonas is really good here. While it may seem like he’s simply playing a variation of himself, it’s a testament to his work as a performer that you won’t necessarily find yourself hating this character even though his Danny Wilson does a couple of very questionable things throughout the course of this movie. Rounding out a solid supporting cast are Plunkett, Fallon, Jack Reynor (I still whole heartedly believe this charismatic actor deserves to be on the short list for the new James Bond), and an endearing Peter McDonald as a loyal friend who’d follow Rick to the edge of the universe.
From a story standpoint, not everything hits in POWER BALLAD. The mid-section of the film doesn’t quite live up to the set up nor does it live up to what I believe to be a most satisfying payoff (this movie completely stuck the landing for me.) There were simply things I found myself questioning along the way including the very idea that Rick would have just flown to L.A. and not told his wife where he was going until after returning. Setting aside the fact that the concept of time during the mid-section of this film isn’t entirely clear (how long was Rick actually back in the U.S?), I can tell you that my better half checks our bank account daily and would have known if I left the county. In POWER BALLAD, Rachel appears to be all but clueless to this fact until Rick half-jokingly suggests she might want to avoid checking the bank account.
That’s nitpicking, though. On a more problematic note, I could have done without a scene in which Rachel and Aja mock our unfortunate protagonist by way of singing along to the song he claims was stolen from him as it plays on the radio. Yes, sometimes family members can do a little playful ribbing to the point of mean-spiritedness. An earlier scene in the film finds Rick’s daughter doing just that in the form of not wanting to be bothered as he plays a new song for her. But by comparison, that moment is more acceptable because she’s simply a teenager with a life. In the context of the film, however, the scene when they seemingly mock Rick lends an almost unlikable quality to a pair of characters that are, otherwise, pretty darn likable up until that point. It should also be noted that this moment in the film is followed by an incident that seems wildly over the top for this movie.
Beyond that, Paul Rudd is so naturally likable, it’s a bit difficult to fully buy into his character arch in this film. He goes from loving dad and working-class wedding singer to “I’m-so-obssessed-with-proving-that-i’ve-been-wronged-that-I’m-going-to-L.A.-to-confront-the-guy-who-took-advantage” at a pretty quick clip. Perhaps too quick.
All of that said, these particular misgivings hardly took away from my overall enjoyment of POWER BALLAD as a whole because this movie is just so darned irresistible and appealing, both as a comedy and a musical. What’s more, as Carney has displayed in his films time and time again, POWER BALLAD really does speak to the pure power of music as an artform (which would go a long way to explain why it won a Special Jury Prize for Music in Film at Desertscape.) Whether you’re busking for a couple of people (watch for a loving tip of the hat to ONCE), playing to a room of 50, or playing to a sold-out stadium crowd, a song has the ability to touch countless lives.
This film also creatively suggests that one song can mean a whole lot of different things to a whole lot of different people. Case in point, the origin of the primary anthem at the heart of POWER BALLAD–a catchy singalong that has a pretty good shot at an Oscar nomination– is moving and the reason for the song’s existence kind of recontextualizes this heartfelt movie in a really beautiful way. In fact, that particular song really sums up what POWER BALLAD is truly about at its core; Family.
Thanks to Lionsgate and The Desertscape International Film Festival for treating fans to this entertaining film two months early. For the rest of the movie going public, POWER BALLAD opens in theaters on June 5th.
