Overview
- Power Ballad, which opens in select theaters Friday, May 29 before expanding nationwide on June 5, arrives as a staged Lionsgate release that has already drawn wide critical attention.
- The film follows wedding singer Rick (Paul Rudd) whose unfinished song is taken and turned into a hit by former boy-band star Danny (Nick Jonas), prompting a personal fight for credit and recognition.
- Critics and press praise the opening jam sequence, the crafted central song and the chemistry between Rudd and Jonas, with director John Carney and composer Gary Clark describing how they wrote the track to feel personal to Rick yet plausible as a stadium pop anthem.
- Several reviews fault the film’s second act, calling its plotting thin, its tone uneven and some supporting characters underwritten, even as other outlets find it amiable and crowd-pleasing.
- The story’s human stakes center on how creative ownership matters for working musicians who lack formal proof of authorship, and the film’s release will test whether audiences respond more to its music and performances or to critics’ concerns about structure.