REVIEW: POWER BALLAD
THE GIST
It may not win awards, but it will win your heart!
THE REVIEW
!!!SPOILERS!!!
EXPECTATIONS
I like the story of this and I hope there is more to it than what is in the trailers.
Can’t go wrong with Paul Rudd anyway.
CONTEXT
Director John Carney—a former bassist for the Dublin rock band The Frames who previously directed Once and Sing Street—teamed up with musician Gary Clark to create the film's central song, "How to Write a Song Without You". The song’s creation actually happened late in the production process, and its emotional weight serves as the anchor for the entire story about an unrecognized wedding singer who has a deeply personal song appropriated by a fading pop star.
THE PLOT
Rick, a washed-up wedding singer, and Danny, a fading boy band star, bond over music and a late-night jam session. When Danny turns Rick's song into a hit, Rick sets out to reclaim the recognition he believes he deserves.
The hard thing for Rick is proving he wrote it. Nobody remembers him playing it because no one really pays attention to any of the songs he writes. His dream of making it big skews his perception on how great his songs actually are. Majority of songs under his belt are not terrible, they are just derivative of so many other songs to make them stand out as anything special.
He also has no recordings of it so everyone from his bandmates to his family thinks he is a bit crazy.
Ultimately Rick gets vindicated. But his journey there helped him acknowledge that maybe he did give up some of his dreams to choose his family, and there was some resentment around that. But he also revealed to himself that he made the right decision in choosing them and wouldn’t have it any other way (before finding evidence of his vindication).
THE EXPERIENCE
Story was fairly predictable but pleasantly surprised me with how they went about it.
The songs and performances could have been better.
Another solid Paul Rudd film.
THE MEAT
The Story: Story was fairly predictable but pleasantly surprised me with how they went about it. It was unpredictable predictability.
The Director: John Carney seems to have a penchant for writing and directing films involving musicians in some form. Once, Begin Again, Sing Street, Flora and Son and now Power. Ballad. He was a bassist in the early 90’s with an irish band called The Frames. This lead to directing some of their music videos, which lead to making two award winning short films before making his first feature. I have only seen 1 of his other films but I think I can say Power Ballad will not have been his best movie. And I am not putting Power Ballad down when I say that.
Paul Rudd: Paul Rudd is his own thing. It’s hard to compare him to anyone else. The last time I saw him in a film was Anaconda, which was an average to good kinda outing. Power Ballad is miles above that. He gets to use his acting chops a lot more in this one. He even gets a bit creepy/scary at one point which is a rarity for him. He also really sang, and he was good, not amazing but surprisingly good.
Nick Jonas: Can’t say I was looking forward to seeing Nick Jonas in a movie. Not a fan of boy bands. Can’t say I would want to watch any of the past movies he has been in either. But I was surprised. He is a good actor. Not a bad singer. He has some slight Michael Jackson qualities to his voice but still has that overall generic boy band sound.
Havana Rose Liu: She is a busy girl. I just saw her in Tuner, and she has 2 x comedies, 2 x horrors and 1 fantasy movie in the pipeline. She wasn’t in this much but added some authenticity to such a small role. It was weird having her disappear so early in the movie. Surely she could have been written into the whole story.
The Songs: The “hit” that Rick mostly wrote and was stolen from him, was an Ok song. The other songs he played were ok songs too. But it was hard for me to see how it became such a big hit, but I don’t understand pop music. I preferred the version Paul Rudd sung and played the acoustic guitar on. The song he played at the beginning that cleared the crowd was quite good actually.
My Only Nitpick: Was when there was singing on the stage it sounded like it was recorded and produced in a studio, would have been great if live performances were captured. Maybe I am wrong and they were live performances, and if so, wow. But they still sounded over produced for live performances.
Relatable To Me: I wholeheartedly relate to Paul Rudd’s Rick character. I have written songs for years. Not great ones. But there is a handful of riffs mixed with melodies and vocal lines that are way beyond my talent level, I am surprised they came out of me. But I will never have the talent to finish or make them big hits. And that’s a hard reality to accept when you are working your arse off just to make ends meet in life. If someone took one of those and made it a massive hit without me getting recognition, I would lose the plot too.
Too Many Cooks: Before the movie started all the different logo clips came up for the different companies involved and it was like a parody. They just kept coming. Reminded me of when Family Guy did a skit of it.
SUMMARY
Now I know Paul Rudd can sing and Nick Jonas can act.
Might be time to check out director John Carney’s other work.
A solid satisfying film that still had missed potential.
