Power Ballad Review

There’s a moment in Power Ballad, the latest film from John Carney, where Paul Rudd’s character crosses paths with a street musician playing “Falling Slowly” from Once. It’s been almost twenty years since Carney broke out with that Oscar-winning gem that came from such humble beginnings. Carney has become synonymous with movies about music. He also has a knack for creating characters who feel real. While Power Ballad has Carney’s signature charm with another banger at its center, the people here can feel more like sitcom characters than the ones we met in Once.

Rudd plays Rick Power, a former rocker who laid down roots in Ireland following the birth of his now-teenage daughter. Power works as a wedding singer, but he still tries to incorporate his own tunes into performances. Unless he’s playing the hits, few are on the dance floor. By chance, Rick’s band plays a wedding that Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas) is attending. Wilson is the one member of a disbanded boy band that has yet to take off as a solo artist. So, he’s more like Kevin Jonas than Nick. My apologies to any Kevin stans reading this.

Rick and Danny get down to jamming that night, hitting it off. Several months later, Rick hears a familiar song in a mall. It’s not exactly the song that he played for Danny, but Rick is clearly entitled to a co-writing credit. Rick struggles to get in touch with Danny, however. It doesn’t help that Rick doesn’t have a recording of the song or witnesses to back up his case. His wife (Marcella Plunkett) and daughter (Beth Fallon) are content going on with their lives. Rick can’t let go of the chart topper that got away, however.

While the premise is familiar, Power Ballad refreshingly doesn’t have a villain. Rick grows self-destructive as he tries to prove he wrote the song, although we can understand where he’s coming from. We also empathize with Danny, who’s under pressure to prove he belongs on the stage and not on reality TV shows. Even Jack Reynor as Danny’s manager, who’s kind of a douche, is just protecting his client when he threatens to sue Rick. Between the two central characters, though, Danny feels less developed than Rick. He has a relationship with a woman named Marcia (Havana Rose Liu) that could’ve fleshed him out more, but she disappears over a montage.

Although more time is dedicated to Rick, Rudd comes off as a tad miscast. Don’t get me wrong. I love Rudd, and he possesses surprisingly strong singing chops. Rudd has such a charismatic presence, though, that I don’t entirely buy him as a singer who never made it. Carney might’ve been better off casting a lesser-known actor or at least one who’s more understated. Watching Rudd play it up as his character gets into slapstick situations, Power Ballad seems less like a Jason Carney projection and more like a Judd Apatow one.

That said, Carney still brings his feel-good sensibilities to Power Ballad, as well as his ear for music. The stolen song at the movie’s core, “How to Write a Song Without You,” is a breathtaking tune that could potentially qualify for an Oscar. Carney once again proves that few filmmakers utilize music as well as he does, even if the characters singing the song aren’t his most compelling. Compared to Carney’s other movies about music, I wouldn’t rank Power Ballad as high as Once, Sing Street, Begin Again, or even Flora and Son. If Power Ballad is his weakest film, though, Carney has yet to truly hit a false note.