Film Review: Power Ballad

Power Ballad
Director: John Carney
30 West, Screen Ireland, Likely Story
In Theaters: 06.05.2026

As William Congreve said, “music hath charms to soothe a savage breast,” and as I ponder this, I can’t help but think that Savage Breasts would be an incredible name for a rock band. Congreve was, of course, referring to the heart and inner emotional being, not anything else. He was absolutely onto something: we’ve all had moments where music and other forms of art brought peace and healing. The crowd-pleasing music based movie Power Ballad was more than just an energizing feel good flick for me — it was a deeply cathartic experience.

Rick Power (Paul Rudd, Ant-Man, Ghostbusters: Afterlife), an American singer who traded rock-star ambitions for family life and wedding gigs in Dublin, gets a taste of destiny when he shares an original song with former boy-band idol Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas, Midway, Jumanji: The Next Level) during a wild night after a castle wedding. Months later, Rick is stunned to hear the very same tune topping charts under Danny’s name, transforming the pop star’s struggling solo career into a sensation. Unable to prove the song is his, Rick watches his life unravel — costing him his band (and his sense of purpose) and even putting his marriage in jeopardy. Finding himself with nothing left to lose, Rick and his best friend and bandmate, Sandy (co-writer Peter McDonald, A Discovery of Witches, The Batman) head to Los Angeles on a quixotic mission to confront Danny and reclaim Rick’s song.

Fast moving, funny and heartfelt, Power Ballad ranks as one of John Carney’s best films and has all the makings of an instant classic. With its irresistible premise, richly engaging characters, the film pulls viewers into a story that feels both intimate and universal. The soundtrack, packed with killer ’80s hits, provides the perfect backdrop, adding energy, nostalgia, and emotional resonance to every turn. On a personal level, the film struck a particularly powerful chord with me, as this January a film that I won’t mention by name was released that bares such striking similarity to a screenplay that I labored over for years (and which got past around to various people to drum up interest), and I’ve been wrestling with the question of whether or not I was plagiarized. I’ve experienced the nagging and maddening belief  that something I wrote has been taken, yet found myself unable to prove it, and the movie got me so worked up that I was genuinely angry on behalf of Rick through much of the film and empathizing with his desperation. The movie had such a visceral hold on me that I had to see it twice to fully process it, but the journey that Carney’s characters undertake is an insightful look and the human need for validation that it’s genuinely mesmerizing, and the screenplay’s refusal to wrap things up too neatly with a simple “all’s well that ending that has everyone doing the right thing provided me a measure of peace on the subject. While not every viewer is going to have such a specific connection to the material, we’ve all had moments when we felt weren’t getting the credit that we were due, and even questioned whether our loved ones really believed in us, and on that level, both Rick and Danny’s stories have something that we can connect to and find ourselves glued to our seats waiting for a resolution.

I’ve been a Paul Rudd fan since the 90s, but after achieving long-overdue superstar status with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he’s been put in the creative position of being turned into a commodity, as he’s increasingly asked to descend into schtick and make performance even Ruddier than the last, much in the same way that happened to Meg Ryan in the ‘90s. Carney has tossed out all of the expectations of goofy hyperactivity and mugging and given Rudd the chance to give his most raw and real performance in a decade or more, and nothing short of triumphant, easily making Rick one of his defining screen characters. Jonas is perfectly cast as the enormously talented young star everyone wants to love, unless they’d rather hate and mock, and he brings such a personal understanding of Danny’s desire to really be seen that even as we root for Rick Power, we find it surprisingly hard to completely root against Danny Wilson. McDonald’s hilariously earnest stoner best friend, Sandy, steals scene after scene, and Power Ballad is destined to make him a sought-after presence as both an actor and writer. 

Power Ballad is both a quietly soul-searching inner journey and a raucously energetic musical romp, and is easily one of the summer’s most satisfying films. There’s a lot of great special effects eye candy out there right now, as well as game-changing indie horror that’s getting a lot of buzz. But if you’re looking for great characters and a movie that will leave you feeling invigorated and grateful for all the things that we take for granted in life, don’t let Power Ballad get lost in the shuffle. When all the other noise has subsided, this is a tune that will still be stuck in your head and heart. —Patrick Gibbs

Read more film reviews by Patrick Gibbs:
Film Review: Tuner
Film Review: Pressure