John Carney has always been able to create movies that make audiences feel good, and that streak continues with his latest effort, Power Ballad.
The only Carney film I have previously seen is Flora and Son (2023), and I was not totally blown away by it; I found Carney’s approach a little too simple. In some respects, his strong emotional storytelling works, but once you know the heartwarming formula, it becomes a little too predictable.
Power Ballad suffers from this structure, but I had a better time with this film than I did with Flora and Son. The film follows Rick (Paul Rudd), a wedding singer, who meets a former member of a popular boy band, Danny (Nick Jonas), at a wedding. They have a late-night jam session, and Danny turns one of Rick’s songs into a mega hit. The ensuing story follows Rick as he tries to get credit for the song Danny took. The premise had me intrigued from the start, but I was skeptical because I assumed it would be the same formula Carney has become known for. To no surprise, it does. What does work for this film, though, is Rudd’s central performance and a delightful script.
It is always fun to see Rudd tackle dramatic roles, and he does incredibly well in this one. He slowly loses his grip on what is truly important around him to get credit for this song. Not saying his getting credit is not important, but the way he puts his family and friends aside to achieve this goal is one of the strongest emotional cruxes of this film.
On the other side of Power Ballad is Jonas, who is bare bones compared to Rudd. It may be intentional, but he felt on a lower tier, acting-wise, compared to Rudd. His performance wasn’t bad, but I expected more given the story’s context. A funny bit in this movie is Jack Reynor, who plays Jonas’s manager. Reynor is a staple of Carney films, which made it even funnier to have him play an American music agent since he is Irish. I thought it was a little ironic, given how Irish Carney’s films are, and it felt like a little nod to the knowing audience.
The supporting cast around our main duo is a delight as well. They bring most of the comedy to this story, as there are certain scenes of comedy to balance Rudd’s frustration. People around him want to believe that it is truly his song, but there is no proof. It is nice that throughout the film, the people around Rudd who are closest to him slowly come to believe he wrote this song, and it doesn’t feel forced, which helps the story’s believability.
The script is also a highlight. There is that Carney formula for most of the film, but there is also an endearing yet somewhat tragic quality to the narrative. Rudd’s journey is a thoughtful one, and while some of the beats are simple, there are aspects of the story that caught me by surprise. The ending, in particular, really got to me. I wasn’t sure if the story was working for me until it wrapped up. There is a beautiful scene near the end where Rudd’s daughter goes through old home videos, which really ties the bow on the story’s themes and ideas.
What surprised me the most was that I wasn’t put off by the warm-heartedness and the semi-melodrama that happens throughout the story. Depending on the circumstances, movies that rely on this tend not to be my sort of thing, but there is an earnestness here that made me overcome my usual trepidation. Not all of it works, as some aspects, especially with Jonas’s character, don’t fully coalesce, but there are attempts to open him up.
If you have been a fan of Carney’s films, then you will probably get a lot out of this film. It helps that this story is grounded by a great dramatic performance from Rudd and a fun performance from Jonas that uses him in the best way possible.
Power Ballad will make you feel warm and give you a lot of great laughs. It’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser. Carney is one of the few working directors who can walk that fine line of sentimentality without entering the cheesy territory that a lot of films like this would fall into.
Review Courtesy of Jacob Diedenhofer
Feature Image Credit to Lionsgate