Film Review: POWER BALLAD (2026): Paul Rudd is Excellent in John Carney’s Beautifully Rendered Tale

Power Ballad Review

Power Ballad (2026) Film Review, a movie directed by John Carney, written by Peter McDonald and John Carney and starring Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas, Peter McDonald, Marcella Plunkett, Rory Keenan, Keith McErlean, Paul Reid, Beth Fallon, Jack Reynor, Havana Rose Liu, Naoimh Whelton, Amy Huberman, Sophie Vavasseur, Emma Rose Creaner, Kelly Thornton, Juliette Crosbie and Isa Mooney.

John Carney (Begin Again)’s wonderfully human and moving drama, Power Ballad, features the performance of Paul Rudd (Clueless)’s career. Carney’s deeply touching film is a showcase for Rudd to display what he’s capable of as a dramatic actor. Power Ballad tells a brave and daring story that doesn’t offer easy solutions to a complicated dilemma. This is a challenging, yet accessible, movie in which Rudd is at the top of his game.

Rudd portrays a struggling musician named Rick who plays at wedding parties and comes into contact with a much more established talent named Danny (Nick Jonas). They get to talking and play music together. When Danny steals Rick’s lyrics to create a smash hit song, “How to Write a Song (Without You)” to relaunch his fading career, Rick finds himself struggling to try to get some credit for what he once wrote in order to help his difficult financial situation improve.

This movie very believably shows how Rick gets little support from his wife and daughter (well played by Marcella Plunkett and Beth Fallon) when he lets them know his tune was stolen out from underneath him. Just as Rick tells his daughter the situation, she asks if he can take her to a friend’s party. The last thing on her mind is the song Rick is so concerned with.

Rick wonders what his life would be like if he was successful in his career. Danny gets to perform in the spotlight while Rick struggles to make ends meet. This film feels like a dash of the 2019 movie, Yesterday, where a struggling man steals the songs of the Beatles and becomes an overnight sensation. Power Ballad is just as entertaining as the 2019 picture was.

Peter McDonald. the film’s co-writer, humorously plays Rick’s loyal friend, Sandy, who has a bit of a wild edge to him. While Sandy sticks by Rick, he also wonders if what Rick says is completely true in regard to Danny stealing the wonderfully catchy tune. Rick becomes obsessed with getting the credit he deserves and even gets his family in a car accident over the unfair situation they all become immersed in regarding who the real writer of the song is.

Power Ballad moves along at a quick pace. There is some development of Rick and Danny’s characters at the beginning of the film to set the stage for the unique complications that arise in the storyline. In terms of the way the film is paced, though, Carney offers a perfectly edited picture that never outwears its welcome and has a tune at its center that is just so hummable.

Rudd is superb. He makes Rick a living and breathing fallen hero. Rudd’s expressive eyes and youthful look help keep the musician character he plays feeling fresh and original at all times throughout the picture.

The weakest link here is Danny who is certainly played with a considerable amount of energy by Jonas. Danny is a character who doesn’t seem to think there’s anything wrong with stealing the song. Danny lies to his girlfriend (Havana Rose Liu) and he says he wrong the song for her, but we soon learn that Rick wrote the song for someone he was not romantically involved with.

Power Ballad cleverly features a street musician playing the song, “Falling Slowly,” from Carney’s Once at one point in the picture. It’s a nice touch for fans of the filmmaker. Rudd’s Rick is a three-dimensional character, to be certain, and the actor runs away with a performance unlike any he has ever given before. Rudd manages to make the film his very own and the audience will cherish the actor’s superb work in the movie.

There are two minor criticisms here. 1.) the film has a very frustrating resolution to the central dilemma of the movie as Jonas’s character is kind of let off the hook by the film’s end, but that’s kind of the point of it all. Secondly, it feels like the characterizations in the first half of the movie are more developed than those in the second half. These are minor criticisms and don’t detract from the quality of the film as a whole.

Make no mistake, Power Ballad is a lovely film because of its purposefully thoughtful and elaborate scenarios. It features a deceptively complicated plot. It, above all else, shows Paul Rudd can do no wrong these days, playing his very likable role to a tee here. Power Ballad will have audience members searching their own souls for the answers within the movie and the ideals it wants the viewer to take from this picture and the showstopping music within it.

Rating: 8.5/10

Leave your thoughts on this Power Ballad review and the film below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more film reviews can visit our Movie Review Page, our Movie Review Twitter Page, and our Movie Review Facebook Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Mobile App, Google News, Apple News, Feedly, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, Telegram, Mastodon, Flipboard, Bluesky, and Threads.