Let鈥檚 just say that the wedding band has never occupied the most exalted rung of the ladder in music.
Playing 鈥淪eptember鈥� and 鈥淐elebration鈥� is often what鈥檚 most required. As one member of the Bride and the Groove, the band at the center of puts it: They鈥檙e not rock stars. They鈥檙e human jukeboxes.
But in a wedding band singer and pop star cross paths. For one night, all of the stratification of the music world falls away. 鈥淧ower Ballad鈥� starts like a fairy tale.
Since 2007鈥檚 鈥淥nce,鈥� the Irish writer-director has focused his films on the redemptive capacity of music. Carney, who was once a bassist for the Frames, knows from experience. From 鈥淪ing Street鈥� to he has made unabashedly earnest tales where a song, or just picking up an instrument, changes lives.
This can, undoubtedly, lead Carney into sentimental territory. Lucky for him, his chosen subject 鈥� music 鈥� is more worthy of sentiment than almost anything else. Yet the song doesn鈥檛 quite remain the same in 鈥淧ower Ballad,鈥� a movie that begins with the gentle sweetness Carney is known for, but detours into something more discordant.
Rick is an American musician who gave up on his once-promising rock band鈥檚 future to instead live with his wife (Marcella Plunkett) and teenage daughter (a spunky, underused Beth Fallon) in Dublin. His former group was called Octagon, a perfect former band name if there ever were one.
But for years, Rick has fronted the Bride and the Groove. It鈥檚 an unromantic day job (or rather a night one) that hasn鈥檛 entirely sapped his belief in his own songwriting. During an encore at one wedding, he plays an original tune and is mentally transported to an arena full of swaying fans. When he snaps out of it, he鈥檚 staring at an empty dance floor and faces that say: That wasn鈥檛 Kool & the Gang.
At another wedding at at a castle, the band is asked to let a friend of the newlyweds sit in. They reluctantly agree, and are surprised to see the very popular boy band veteran, Danny step on stage. He sings Stevie Wonder鈥檚 鈥淚 Wish,鈥� and it鈥檚 great. Though Rick had just dismissed Danny鈥檚 music as 鈥渕anufactured content for young, excitable teens,鈥� he discovers Danny is a genuine musician.
But, later that night, something even more remarkable transpires. Rick bumps into Danny, and the two quickly hit it off. They begin jamming together and sharing songs that need work. They are both so jazzed by their unlikely collaboration that they play into the next morning.
The actual moment of artistic creation, and the craft it requires, is something the movies almost always skip over. But capturing collaborative juices flowing is exactly what Carney excels at. You can feel his joy in it. So it鈥檚 fitting that one of the unfinished songs Rick plays for Danny, 鈥淗ow to Write a Song (Without You),鈥� is about creative invention.
It鈥檚 here when you wonder where 鈥淧ower Ballad鈥� is headed. Is this, for Rick, the beginning of a beautiful friendship? Will they turn into the next great songwriting duo, lifting Rick out of weddings and proving to the world that Danny is more than a boy-band pretty face?
That is very possibly the movie Carney might have made a decade ago. But 鈥淧ower Ballad,鈥� which he co-wrote with Peter McDonald (who also co-stars as a band member), shifts six months ahead in time. Rick is standing in a shopping mall when the familiar lyrics of 鈥淗ow to Write a Song鈥� softly float through the stores. He stands dumbfounded in the gleaming halls of commerce, a befuddlement that slowly turns into outrage the bigger and bigger Danny鈥檚 smash hit grows.
鈥淧ower Ballad鈥� loses some of its steam in its second half, which follows Rick鈥檚 struggle for justice. Making things considerably harder is that he can find no recorded demo of the song. His family and his band don鈥檛 even really believe him.
But even as the movie struggles to sustain its opening refrain, Carney鈥檚 film is always riffing on ideas of authenticity and aspiration in music. That Jonas is, himself, a former boy band star who has at times gone it alone, lends the movie a direct connection to contemporary music, where tussles over authorship are increasingly common.
Jonas has been good in other films (notably the 鈥淛umanji鈥� movies), but this is his most ambitious and convincing performance to date. It鈥檚 a testament to the movie that Danny鈥檚 theft isn’t a purely villainous act. He gives the song a bridge and the vocal power to take it to another level. He’s under mounting pressure from his label to deliver a hit. An executive (Jack Reynor) wants 鈥淒anny 2.0鈥� but has little faith he can supply it.
But it鈥檚 an even more well-tailored role for Rudd. He memorably and very goofily played a bassist in the 2009 comedy 鈥淚 Love You, Man.鈥� But while he sings well, it鈥檚 not his musical chops that lift the performance. It鈥檚 more that Rick, a contented family man with unrealized rock-star dreams, gives the exceptionally genial Rudd more notes to play as an actor. Rudd makes for a very likeable everyman out to convince the world he is capable of a beautiful song.
And that鈥檚 the abiding belief of Carney鈥檚. No matter all the struggles, the artistic injustices, the corporate hegemony, he still believes that if you make something truly soulful, it will break through. It will claw its way to the surface, and move people. It鈥檚 undoubtedly gotten harder since 鈥淥nce,鈥� this movie seems to admit. The world is against you. But what one person can offer, a ballad or otherwise, still has power. Fairy tale or not, that’s worth believing in.
鈥淧ower Ballad,鈥� a Lionsgate release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for 鈥渓anguage throughout and some drug use.鈥� Running time: 108 minutes. Three stars out of four.
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