‘Power Ballad’ review: Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas pluck the heartstrings in overly-sentimental John Carney drama

Dir: John Carney. Ireland/US. 2026. 98mins

A songwriter who never got his big break may finally have his moment in the spotlight in Power Ballad, the latest crowd-pleaser from director John Carney, who has frequently focused on the agony and ecstasy of devoting your life to music. Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas are ideally suited to play, respectively, an ageing wedding singer and a washed-up pop star, the former inadvertently helping the younger artist craft his comeback single. Grappling with serious themes, this wistful comedy opts for a sentimental tone that’s out of rhythm with the more realistic, tough-minded story that occasionally asserts itself.

 Insistence on emphasising the heartfelt and comforting 

Carney, who is best known for Once, Begin Again, Sing Street and Flora And Son will be a draw when Power Ballad opens in the UK and US on May 29, as with the two likeable leads. This character-drived comedy could prove to be an effective counterprogrammer at the start of summer blockbuster season.

American musician Rick (Rudd) has lived in Ireland for more than a decade, giving up his rock ‘n’ roll aspirations to settle down with his Irish wife Rachel (Marcella Plunkett) and raise their daughter Aja (Beth Fallon). He’s now the frontman of a wedding band but he has never stopped writing songs, even if his audiences only want him to play other people’s hits.

At one event, Rick meets Amerian wedding guest Danny (Jonas), who was in a popular boy band before flaming out as a solo act. Rick is initially skeptical that Danny is a true artist but, after a night of bonding and drinking, they form a real connection, sharing their frustrations about the challenges of the creative process. While showing each other songs they’re working on, Rick plays a ballad he’s been noodling with for years, impressing Danny. After a warm goodbye, the two men return to their lives, with Danny trying to come up with a hit track for his make-or-break next album. Suddenly, he starts banging out the melody from the tune Rick played him, turning it into a moving love song.

Power Ballad derives its tension from what happens next, as Rick later hears Danny’s smash single, ‘How To Write A Song (Without You),’ and instantly recognises it as his original composition. Danny has not spoken to Rick since their hangout and pretends the song was entirely his own creation; Rick tries convincing his family and bandmates that he wrote it, even though he has no evidence of a demo on his computer.

Those early stretches when Rick and Danny first get to know one another are among Power Ballad’s best sequences. It helps that the characters’ songs, written by Carney and Gary Clark, are credibly catchy, reinforcing the fact that Rick and Danny are genuinely talented. Although the two men come from different worlds and are in different phases of life, Rudd and Jonas create an instant rapport that demonstrates how the joy of making music can bring people together.

So when Danny later steals Rick’s ballad, the effect is suitably shattering, sending Rick into a tailspin. Smartly, Carney zeroes in on just how traumatic it would be for Rick to finally be involved with a No. 1 smash, only to be betrayed by a fellow artist. All his life, Rick longed to perform in sold-out stadiums, a fantasy that never materialised despite his hard work. ‘How To Write A Song (Without You)’ should have been his breakthrough.

Rudd capably captures a middle-aged musician who has a happy home life while mourning the rock star he never became. But Jonas, himself part of the boy band Jonas Brothers before enjoying a career as a solo artist and actor, struggles with his poorly-conceived character. At first, the thoughtful Danny defies Rick’s negative preconceived notions about boy-band singers. But once Danny commits to his elaborate deception, Jonas fails to suggest the young man’s conflicting emotions about what he’s done — or, at the very least, reveal this seemingly affable pop star’s stunning mendacity.

Also frustrating is Carney’s decision to tilt the story in an increasingly illogical direction. Many of his films have a touch of wish fulfillment to them, wanting his characters to get their happy ending. But when Rick and Sandy impetuously set off for L.A. to confront Danny, Power Ballad invents implausible scenarios to bring the men together, resulting in a showdown that is not nearly as illuminating or cathartic as Carney assumes. The music industry is cutthroat, but Power Ballad’s insistence on emphasising the heartfelt and comforting undercuts the inherent hell of a man who watches his dream get to be lived out by someone else.