Power Ballad Review: Regret and Contentment
John Carney's latest film Power Ballad explores the tension between contentment and regret better than anything I've seen in a long time.
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A few weeks ago, I did the rare theatrical double feature to prepare to appear on my friend Rachel’s podcast. I knew I wanted to review Masters of the Universe, but definitely didn’t want to talk about that movie only, so I added a second movie to my list and went with my husband to see John Carney’s Power Ballad. I went into that film knowing almost nothing about it, and I have to say that it hit me much harder than I expected.
Power Ballad follows Rick (Paul Rudd), a man who dreamed of becoming a rock star but ended up as a wedding band singer. He and his friends in Bride & Groove (truly an amazing band name) head to a castle to play a wedding, and in attendance is Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), a former boy band member. He joins Bride & Groove for a song, where he and Rick trade the melody and have a great little viral moment. The two of them meet up later and spend a night together drinking, smoking, talking about music, and playing some tunes together, including a little number Rick had abandoned called “How To Write a Song (Without You).”
The night is a fun blip, but a few months later, Rick hears his song playing at a shopping center. He contacts Danny, hoping to get writing credit on the song and some of the financial revenue from it. Unfortunately, he can’t find any recordings or demos of the song, and no one remembers him singing it to them. The longer it goes, the more frustrated Rick gets, until he confronts Danny at his home.
This is a very sweet movie. The humor is solid, the performances are all good, the song is catchy (it will absolutely worm its way into your brain, the way any successful pop song should), and it avoided being as sickly sweet as it could have been. I love the relationship between Rick and his bandmate Sandy (Peter McDonald). I also think the family relationship is beautifully portrayed. I love the way the friendship between Rick and Danny blooms, then turns to animosity, and then finds its way to some kind of stasis in the final act.
As a film critic, I can easily recommend Power Ballad. The story is engaging, the performances are fun, the music is catchy. This is a good movie, and you should watch it.
But there was an aspect of this movie that resonated with me in a deeply personal way, and that is how well it shows the difficulty in finding a balance between contentment and regret.
