Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas team up in John Carney’s “Power Ballad,” where a wedding duet sparks an ugly turn—one stolen composition, a global hit, and a bitter fight over who gets credit. The film arrives in limited theaters May 29 and expands widely June 5.
A wedding reception in suburban Dublin feels like the kind of place where music is meant to heal—until a former boyband star drops in and the night’s “human jukebox” job becomes something far more dangerous.
In John Carney’s “Power Ballad. ” Rick Powers (Paul Rudd) sings for an Irish wedding band called The Bride and Groove. still tethered to his old dreams of rock-and-roll stardom. He’s settled into middle-age responsibilities. and even his bandmates try to keep him in his lane—reminding him he’s supposed to be “a human jukebox. ” not the guy chasing new glory.
Then Danny (Nick Jonas) arrives as a surprise sit-in during the reception. Danny is a former boyband superstar struggling to get a solo career off the ground. The mood shifts fast: Rick doesn’t want to give up the spotlight. Danny clearly feels the awkwardness of the imposition. and yet music cuts through the tension almost immediately. The two end up duetting on a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish. ” and the chemistry lands like it was waiting in the wings.
The night doesn’t end with the wedding. Rick and Danny hang around afterward, leading into a late-night drinking session where they each play the other their unfinished songs. By the early hours, they part with encouragement—urging each other to keep chasing their own artistic visions.
But Carney has built his films around how songs can connect strangers. and “Power Ballad” takes that same emotional engine and twists it into something sharper. What looks like it could lead to an inevitable big breakthrough instead turns into a fight over credit—and a question Carney can’t ignore: what happens when music doesn’t save you. but ruins you?.
Danny returns to Los Angeles under intense pressure from his label and manager to deliver a hit. When no one shows interest in his originals, he passes off one of Rick’s compositions as his own. The song becomes a global sensation, giving Danny the solo credibility he’d been chasing. Rick, meanwhile, watches the world sing along to lyrics he wrote—without receiving credit or any royalties.
It’s not immediately clear whether Danny stole the song intentionally or simply misremembered the origins after a drunken haze. Either way, his willingness to keep taking credit while ignoring Rick’s attempts to contact his manager becomes its own kind of admission.
From there. the story asks the audience to go along for the melodramatic ride needed to set up its bittersweet third act—because the logistics strain credulity at key moments. The script doesn’t explain why the two men wouldn’t exchange phone numbers after their life-changing night in a recording studio. and it also leaves Rick without a straightforward way to reach his celebrity friend. As the fallout grows, Rick’s life starts collapsing as the stolen song obsession consumes him. The insanity escalates into a drunk driving incident that briefly gets him kicked out of his own family. And for a movie that keeps returning to human emotion. Paul Rudd’s charm—usually a superpower—lands awkwardly against the character’s darker turn.
Still, the film’s core feelings don’t lose their grip. Even when the plot leans soapy, the emotions driving Rick and Danny stay layered. Carney keeps pushing toward a mature idea: sometimes it’s not just acceptable to miss out on a material dream—it can be necessary, if something better comes along.
On the surface, Carney’s message hasn’t changed. He’s still asking whether a song can save your life. But “Power Ballad” also moves like a storyteller who knows audiences recognize his patterns—sprinkling meta touches such as a street busker performing songs from “Once.” With record labels now functioning more like vehicles for monetizing existing fanbases than discovering new artists. the movie also adjusts Carney’s older fantasy of producers and executives stumbling into genius in bars.
In the end, “Power Ballad” lands as a charming entry in a filmography that refuses to be anything else. It doesn’t argue that fame and fortune are never out of reach. It just replaces the overnight-success fantasy with something richer: the conviction that songwriting can matter beyond record sales and stadium shows.
“Power Ballad” will be released by Lionsgate in limited theaters on Friday, May 29 and in wide release on Friday, June 5.
Grade: B
Paul Rudd Nick Jonas John Carney Power Ballad Lionsgate Stevie Wonder I Wish Sing Street musicals film review