Power Ballad review: Uplifting musical drama with perfectly cast leads
Irish writer-director John Carney knows how to write an uplifting comedy-drama filled with original music, as we’ve seen before in Once, Begin Again and my personal favourite, Sing Street. So it’s no surprise that I adored his latest offering, Power Ballad.
This film stars Paul Rudd as Rick Power, a former rock musician-turned-wedding singer living in Ireland with his Irish wife Rachel (Marcella Plunkett) and daughter Aja (Beth Fallon). At one wedding, he meets famous American former boy band star Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas) and they bond over music, staying up writing songs together until the early hours. Six months later, Rick hears his song on the radio and realises that Danny stole it and turned it into a chart-topping hit without permission or a credit.
Unfortunately for Rick, even though he has been working on his song for more than 10 years, he can’t find any proof of his version – no demo, no written lyrics, no video of a live performance – so he can’t do anything legally. Desperate for the truth to be told and to receive credit for writing a smash hit, he takes matters into his own hands.
Rudd and Jonas are so well-suited to their roles. The former really looks the part of a wannabe rock star who never made it big before giving up his dreams to have a family. It takes a moment to accept him singing seriously as he’s only previously sung in a comedic fashion (and I always think of him as a comedian). It also doesn’t help that his wedding performances are obviously not sung live (he lip syncs well but the audio is too clean and overproduced). But I fully accepted it when he sincerely sang with Jonas and rooted for him as the underdog. Rudd is so good at balancing the heartfelt and the humour.
The parallels between Jonas and his character are obvious. He also came from a boy band (The Jonas Brothers, who are now active again) and had to shake that image to be a successful solo artist. Danny is desperate to be taken seriously and needs a hit so badly that he steals Rick’s song. Even though what he did is wrong, you can understand his motivations and have compassion for him – and that’s because of Jonas’s grounded performance.
Power Ballad is a lovely, uplifting, feel-good film that plays out wonderfully and ends on a satisfying note. A couple of beats weren’t fully capitalised on and delivered to their maximum potential, but I enjoyed the heck out of this. Carney and his collaborator Gary Clark really know how to deliver good film songs and How to Write a Song (Without You) is no exception. I also want to give a shout-out to Peter McDonald as Rick’s hilarious bandmate and sidekick Sandy and Carney regular Jack Reynor as Danny’s no-nonsense manager Mac.
I don’t think Carney will ever be able to top the incredible Sing Street but Power Ballad comes close. And honestly, I could watch Rudd sing wedding classics all day.
In cinemas from Friday 29th May