“Power Ballad,” playing at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center starting July 17, touches on fame, love, family, friendship, self-respect, and the price of ambition.
Co0-writer John Carney directs this feel-good film, which opens with Rick Power (Paul Rudd) crooning cover tunes with the wedding band “The Bride and Groove.” Rick is a middle-aged, Kansas City–born rocker who’s lived in Dublin for 15 years, having given up his dreams of stardom to marry an Irish lass and raise a teenage daughter he adores. But Rick hasn’t completely abandoned his rock ’n’ roll dream. At the end of the reception, he sings a final tune — one of his own — and, in his imagination, the small-town wedding venue shifts into a dream of performing in an enormous arena filled with fans. Later, when reprimanded by the band’s leader for getting carried away, Rick says, “I know, I know. But these songs need to get played.” The leader responds that the guests “want something safe — something familiar. Not your late ’80s, possibly early ’90s hard-to-define rock that you do.”
The thing is, Rick’s own music is good, as we discover at the next wedding the band plays. It happens that a friend of the bride and groom is the devilishly handsome young American superstar Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), who was part of a popular boy band, but whose solo career is faltering. During the reception, the bridal couple plead for Danny to be allowed to sing a tune, to Rick’s initial dismay. But when Danny invites Rick to join in, the two give a dynamite performance.
Rick and Danny end up hanging out after the reception late into the night, drinking, smoking marijuana, and playing their music for each other. The two are simpatico, helping each other improve the pieces they are working on. A particularly compelling song is Rick’s original “How to Write a Song (Without You),” for which he hasn’t yet found a successful bridge. The song is a stirring power ballad, an impassioned tune with emotional lyrics that starts soft and gradually builds to a dramatic finale.
The next morning, Danny leaves an expensive, rare vintage Gibson acoustic guitar for Rick as a token of friendship. But when Danny returns to Los Angeles, a series of events leads him to finish the song and pass it off as his own. “How to Write a Song (Without You)” becomes an instant smash megahit, launching the wildly successful solo career he has longed for.
The film unfolds in an amusing, caper-like fashion as Rick tries to prove that the song was originally his, with plenty of entertaining twists and turns.
The soundtrack, featuring original songs and score by Gary Clark and Carney, beautifully performed by Rudd and Jonas, who sing their own parts, is immensely appealing. At one point, Rick’s daughter informs him that old-school love songs no longer cut it with young women, explaining that they aren’t interested in falling in love anymore but, she says, in “revenge.” But for those who like the genre, “How to Write a Song (Without You),” which we hear frequently throughout the film, is a real winner, proving there are still plenty of us out there who want a stirring, romantic tune.
“Power Ballad” is playing at the M.V. Film Center, starting on July 17. For tickets and more information, visit mvfilmsociety.com.
