Every filmmaker worth their salt has their recurring obsessions, whether it\u2019s the confines of privilege (Sofia Coppola), symmetry and pastels (Wes Anderson) or naked bare feet (you know who). For Irish writer-director John Carney, it is the enervating quality of music to connect and forge relationships of all stripes. From Once<\/em> to Begin Again<\/em>, Sing Street<\/em> to Flora And Son<\/em>, ex-muso Carney has plied his trade in funny, unashamedly uncynical song-centric films that wear their heart and art on their sleeve. His latest, Power Ballad<\/em>, is no exception, again playing his favourite theme, this time adding some fresh new licks.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The set-up is efficiently, entertainingly sketched. Giving up his dreams of musical stardom to start a family in Ireland, American rocker Rick Power (Paul Rudd) is the frontman of wedding band The Bride And Groove (chef\u2019s kiss), playing cover versions and occasionally harshing the buzz with his own compositions. During a reception at an Irish castle, friend of the groom and floundering former boy-band alumnus Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas) joins the band on stage and duets with Rick on a kickass version of Stevie Wonder\u2019s \u2018I Wish\u2019.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Sharing an easy chemistry, Rudd and Jonas are such a delight together that there\u2019s a dip when the demands of the story split them up.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n The pair click and Danny invites Rick back to his hotel room, a makeshift studio filled with guitars, keyboards and recording equipment. In a lengthy sequence, Carney has a ball watching the music lovers vibe: if the jam session isn\u2019t quite Paul McCartney making up \u2018Get Back\u2019 on the fly, it is a joy to watch the two men create, especially when the two riff on a Rick composition, \u2018How To Write A Song (Without You)\u2019. The two go their separate ways until Rick, six months later, is walking through a Dublin shopping centre and hears his tune, now an over-produced sad banger, seeping out of the PA system.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Sharing an easy chemistry, Rudd and Jonas are such a delight together that there\u2019s a dip when the demands of the story split them up. Just wanting acknowledgement for his involvement, Rick becomes obsessed, alienating his bandmates, wife Rachel (Marcella Plunkett) and daughter Aja (Beth Fallon) while Danny returns to LA with 100 million views, an arena tour and a renewed sense of purpose. It\u2019s refreshing to see the eternally youthful Rudd play crumpled middle age: smoking, swearing, seeing his lifelong dream become a nightmare. Jonas is eminently winning as a former star who, like Rick, just wants to prove his worth musically, buoyed by his agent (Carney regular Jack Reynor). To its credit, there are no villains in Power Ballad<\/em>. Carney and co-writer Peter McDonald (who, in an endearing comedic turn, plays Rick\u2019s bestie Sandy) do a smart, convincing job of blurring the lines of creative ownership. Like Carney\u2019s other work, it\u2019s a big-hearted film that likes its people, whatever their faults and foibles.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n A former bassist with The Frames, Carney pulls off that rare trick of making \u2018fictional\u2019 pop music in his films sound not only credible but memorable. After working with Glen Hansard and Mark\u00e9ta Irglov\u00e1 on Once<\/em> and New Radicals\u2019 Gregg Alexander on Begin Again<\/em>, this time around Carney has collab\u2019d with Gary Clark, lead singer of \u201980s popsters \u2014 hey! \u2014 Danny Wilson (their biggest hit, \u2018Mary\u2019s Prayer\u2019, can be heard in a pub), who contributed to Sing Street<\/em> and Flora And Son<\/em>. There\u2019s less music here than usual, but the pair make \u2018How To Write A Song (Without You)\u2019 an irresistible, iPhone-torch-in-the-air anthem about the importance of a muse for a love song. That song is not only memorable but also feeds into a twist in the tale that makes you feel differently about its relationships.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n It might not have the soul of Once<\/em> or the exuberance of Sing Street<\/em>, but Power Ballad<\/em> sees Carney try something different. It is consistently funny \u2014 an extended set-piece where Rick and Sandy gate-crash Danny\u2019s LA pad hits the mark, in broad strokes \u2014 but it\u2019s not out-and-out comedy. Carney is exploring more here than just laughs, tapping deeper and more earnestly into middle-age despair, youthful insecurities and thwarted aspirations. It\u2019s a new palette that makes you wonder what a Carney film might look like if the guitar stayed firmly in its case.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n Another catchy Valentine to the transcendent properties of music, Power Ballad is perhaps a little more grounded than your average John Carney playlist. Full of native wit, warmth and generosity: play it on repeat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Following an all-night jam session, wedding singer Rick Power (Paul Rudd) accuses struggling boy-band star Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas) of stealing his song. Every filmmaker worth their salt has their recurring obsessions, whether it\u2019s the confines of privilege (Sofia Coppola), symmetry and pastels (Wes Anderson) or naked bare feet (you know who). For Irish writer-director […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-47"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9858,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9856\/revisions\/9858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Power](\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/power-ballad.jpg\")
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