John Carney’s films are great because they have that one great song. Sometimes Carney writes that song himself and sometimes other people do it, but his movies draw their strength from that song that throbs with life, reaches into your soul, and leaves you in a puddle. His last movie, 2023’s Flora and Son, didn’t have that song, and no coincidence that it’s the weakest of his efforts.
How it took me five films and 19 years to realize this is a question for another time. What’s certain is that his latest movie, Power Ballad, does have that song. “How to Write a Song (Without You)” is worthy of the company of “Falling Slowly,” “Lost Stars,” and “Drive It Like You Stole It,” and you know it’s great because it gets performed so many times during this movie without ever wearing thin.
It’s written by Rick Power (Paul Rudd), a Kansas City native who has spent the last 15 years living in Dublin, having shelved his dreams of music stardom to marry an Irishwoman (Marcella Plunkett), have a daughter (Beth Fallon), and sing lead for a wedding band called The Bride and Groove. He’s playing a nuptial when the groom’s childhood friend Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), an alumnus from a world-famous boy band, joins Rick onstage and duets with him on Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish.” After the ceremony, Danny listens to Rick’s songs, including the half-finished “How to Write a Song,” and talks openly about his struggles making it as a solo artist. The conversation is a great combination of shop talk among musicians and Rick being moved that this global celebrity finds it worth spending hours talking to him. If that’s not enough, Danny gifts Rick a 1950s-vintage Gibson guitar with a note telling him to write something great on it.
The beautiful friendship is ruined when Danny returns home to L.A. and his girlfriend (Havana Rose Liu). She smiles politely while listening to his new material, but when he plays “How to Write a Song” for her, it brings her to tears. His record label has a similar reaction, and so it is that some months later, Rick hears his own song playing in a local shopping mall. His joy gives way to impotent rage when he finds out that he’s not credited for writing the song, and that he has no way to prove his authorship of the single that is currently topping Billboard’s charts.
This is the performance of Rudd’s career. The only one that comes close is Anchorman. (This movie’s script cheekily names Rick’s old band Octagon, which will make you think of Brian Fantana’s penis.) He gives the movie its emotional throughline, as he goes from the simple joy that Rick feels from covering Huey Lewis and Hall & Oates for an appreciative audience to his sense of injustice that leads him to turn surly with his bandmates and his family. This culminates in a fantastic climax as Rick travels to L.A., corners Danny in his hot tub at a house party, and reveals the circumstances that led to the song’s creation: “That’s what’s kept me sane through all this … knowing that you couldn’t write that song in a million years, because you think it’s a love song.” Rick ultimately realizes that the song finding its audience is more important than the question of who wrote it, and he makes that peaceful resolution into something deeply moving. (Don’t worry, though: Rick received a measure of justice here.) Carney’s heroes believe in the power of music, and no lead actor of his has ever conveyed it better than Rudd. This, and not Ant-Man, is what we have him for.
Alongside him, Irish actor Peter McDonald co-wrote the script and pens a funny role for himself as The Bride and Groove’s loyal lead guitarist who accompanies Rick to America. Meanwhile, Jonas (whose acting roles so far have tended to be pleasantly unmemorable) finds the desperation that leads Danny to steal another guy’s song, after his record producer (Jack Reynor) tells him that he’s this close to “eating bugs on some reality show.” He holds up during Danny’s climactic confrontation with Rick, and it’s worth a round of applause.
On the musical end, Rudd sounds no better than a decent wedding singer on his covers of wedding-party chestnuts like “Celebration” and “Message in a Bottle.” The original songs by Carney and frequent songwriting partner Gary Clark take advantage of Rudd’s naturally high-lying tenor. I wonder if it’s Rudd’s experience as an actor that helps him negotiate the wordy verse on “Dublin to L.A.” that only sets off his soaring rendition of the chorus. While Jonas’ two separate versions of “How to Write a Song” are not to be taken lightly, Rudd’s performance is no less than gut-wrenching when he gets to the bridge: “This could be the song that saves me / Or this could be my albatross. / This is all I’ve got.” And with that, Power Ballad truly earns its title.
Power Ballad
Starring Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas. Directed by John Carney. Written by John Carney and Peter McDonald. Rated R.
