Power Ballad (15)

Singer-songwriter Rick Power fronts wedding band Bride & Groove, performing rousing cover versions flanked by best friend Sandy on guitar. During a paid gig, Rick meets former Impossible boyband member Danny Wilson, who is searching for a hit to launch his solo career. Rick plays him an unfinished original composition entitled How To Write A Song (Without You) and Danny subsequently records the track but fails to credit Rick's contribution.

LondonNet Film Review

Power Ballad (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Music is the heartbeat of writer-director John Carney’s films. Oscar-winning song Falling Slowly beautifully soundtracked the romance of a Dublin busker and Czech cleaner in his micro-budget 2007 picture Once, Keira Knightley facilitated father-daughter bonding between Mark Ruffalo and Hailee Steinfeld on a New York rooftop in Begin Again to the summery anthem Tell Me If You Wanna Go Home, and Drive It Like You Stole It became an empowerment anthem for a 15-year-old boy in Carney’s feelgood coming-of-age story Sing Street. In Power Ballad, the Dublin-born filmmaker chooses the pitch-perfect pairing of Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas to create sweet disharmony in a life-affirming comedy drama that proves it’s never too late to chase your dreams…

Singer-songwriter Rick Power (Rudd) surrendered fantasies of playing Madison Square Garden 15 years ago while touring Ireland with his band Octagon. He took a year off from music to compose a real-life love story with Rachel (Marcella Plunkett) and raise their daughter, Aja (Beth Fallon). In the interim, his record label moved on without him. Now, Rick fronts wedding band Bride & Groove, performing rousing cover versions flanked by best friend Sandy (Peter McDonald) on guitar. During a paid gig, Rick meets former Impossible boyband member Danny Wilson (Jonas), who is taking “the scenic route” to a successful solo career. The pair instantly click.

Danny is desperately searching for a hit to impress his manager Mac (Jack Reynor) so when Rick plays him an unfinished original composition entitled How To Write A Song (Without You) in the wee small hours of the morning, his creative juices flow again. Danny’s girlfriend Marcia (Havana Rose Liu) subsequently hears her beau playing around with the song and urges him to record it. The track becomes a chart-topping global smash hit and Danny neglects to credit Rick so when the wedding singer seeks recognition that’s rightfully owed, Danny denies the claim and Mac threatens legal action in the absence of proof that the song ever originated with Rick.

Power Ballad sings to a familiar hymn sheet, following Rick’s journey from embittered could-have-been (“We’re not rock stars, we’re human jukeboxes,” a wedding bandmate reminds him) to helpless victim of creative highway robbery. Rudd is charmingly dishevelled, weathering every body blow aimed at his character, while Jonas faces a tougher test retaining relatability as his fame-hungry star leverages power to squash an inconvenient truth. McDonald’s roguish comic relief is welcome but occasionally too brash and broad.

Like a great verse that is missing a killer chorus, Carney’s new film ultimately lacks that pulse-quickening spark that elevated his other pictures. That said, the centrepiece song is irritatingly catchy and refuses to dislodge from my brain. Power to the Power.

– Jo Planter