Power Ballad (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

PopEntertainment
1 hour ago
4 min read

POWER BALLAD (2026)

Starring Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas, Peter McDonald, Marcella Plunkett, Havana Rose Liu, Jack Reynor, Sophie Vavasseur, Beth Fallon, Rory Keenan, Keith McErlean, Paul Reid, Naoimh Whelton, Amy Huberman, Emma Rose Creaner, Kelly Thornton, Juliette Crosbie, Caelum Frazer, Isa Mooney, Robert Mitchell, Mae Higgins, Sionnan Dunne and Alexa Scout Fagen.

Screenplay by John Carney and Peter McDonald.

Directed by John Carney.

Distributed by Lionsgate. 98 minutes. Rated R.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years since writer director John Carney’s breakthrough film Once, which is one of my all-time favorite movies. That film, about creating music in the Irish folk scene starred real musicians Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová (both of the band The Swell Season) is a love note to the act of creating music.

In the years since Carney, who is also a former musician (he was in the band The Frames with Hansard before they made the movie), has made some other enjoyable but less memorable films, often also about making music – like Begin Again, Flora & Son and Sing Street. He also created the sweet Amazon Prime anthology series Modern Love, which was more about love (not just romance, but love in the broader sense, like it was used in Love Actually) but sometimes touched on music a bit too.

Carney returns to the Dublin music scene with his latest film Power Ballad – albeit with two American ringers, Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas, heading his cast. And in doing so, he releases his best work since Once.

I know it would be delusional to say that Power Ballad was the best film of the year. It most certainly was not. However, I enjoyed it as much if not more than anything else I’ve seen so far this year, so that has to count for something.

Rudd plays Rick, a formerly moderately successful touring musician (his band released a few albums without ever really breaking big) who fell in love and married a woman he met on an Irish tour. Years later he is happily married and father of a young teenaged girl, but he has never completely given up on the dream of music stardom, even though he now makes a living as the singer for a popular wedding band. (And for the record, Rudd is a surprisingly good singer.)

While playing at an upscale wedding in an Irish castle, Rick agrees to allow a friend of the groom to sit in on a couple of songs. That friend turns out to be a former boy band star named Danny Wilson. (I love that the character is named after a 1980s British one-hit-wonder band, whose lone hit “Mary’s Prayer” does also make it on the soundtrack.) Nick Jonas plays Wilson, and it is a role that the Jo Bro is very comfortable with – a former teen idol trying for artistic relevance as a solo act.

After the gig, Rick and Danny run into each other and bond over their shared love of music. Danny shares some of the new songs he’s working on. Rick gives him some pointers. Then Rick plays Danny a snippet of a song he’s been working on for years but has never finished. They work together on the song for a while.

Six months later, Rick is in a store when he hears his song playing over the loudspeakers. Apparently, Danny has recorded the song and not given him any credit for it. And the song has become a smash. Therefore, Rick goes on a quixotic quest to prove that the biggest hit of the day actually sprung from his idea, even though he has no real proof and no one seems to believe him.

The only person who is on his side is his drummer and best friend Sandy (played by cowriter Peter McDonald), who accompanies Rick to the US to try to get Danny to acknowledge that the song was his.

The nice thing about Power Ballad is that Rick is not in it for the money – although of course he feels he should have been paid for his work – but just because of the love and pride of creation. Like in Once, it’s all about the making of art.

What really gives Power Ballad its lift is the way Carney balances the absurdity of Rick’s quest with the very real ache underneath it. The film is often funny – sometimes sharply so – but the humor never undercuts the sincerity of Rick’s disappointment or the quiet desperation of a man who feels like the world moved on without him. Carney has always had a knack for letting emotional beats sneak up on you, and here he threads the needle beautifully: a throwaway joke about wedding‑band life suddenly lands with the weight of a missed opportunity, and a goofy rehearsal‑room argument turns unexpectedly tender. The comedy keeps the story buoyant, but the sincerity is what makes it resonate.

While Power Ballad is in no way a continuation of Once, there are some fun Easter Eggs for the fans of the earlier movie. For example, at one point Paul Rudd walks down the streets of Dublin and walks past a busker singing on what I am almost certain is the exact same spot that Glen Hansard’s character often played in the earlier film. The street singer is doing an acoustic version of “Falling Slowly,” the Academy-Award winning single from the earlier film. And as the guy plays, two kids watching him play grab some of the tip money from his open guitar case and run off, a near replay of the opening scene of Once.

Power Ballad may not have the lightning‑in‑a‑bottle magic of Once, but it carries the same affection for the messy, joyful act of making music. Carney has crafted a film that feels lived‑in and sincere, buoyed by Paul Rudd’s most endearing performance in years and a soundtrack that lingers long after the credits. It’s a reminder that artistic connection can come from unlikely places – and that sometimes the smallest songs hit the deepest notes.

Jay S. Jacobs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evvpx6oxRZ8