Paul Rudd smashing a guitar. Nick Jonas looking like he just stepped off a stadium stage in 2008. If that sentence alone doesn’t sell you on Power Ballad, I don’t know what will. Lionsgate just dropped the first character posters for John Carney’s new musical comedy, and yes, they are exactly as dramatic and gloriously self-aware as the title suggests. Sunglasses on. Guitars raised. Rock star energy dialed all the way up.
The film follows Rudd as Rick, a once-promising wedding singer, and Jonas as Danny, a fading boy band idol. They bond over a late-night jam session, but things go sideways when Danny turns Rick’s song into a career-reviving hit. Suddenly it’s less “brotherhood of music” and more “who actually wrote this thing?” It’s about ambition, ego, friendship, and that universal musician fear: hearing your song on the radio and realizing someone else is getting the applause.
Directed by John Carney, the man behind Once and Sing Street, Power Ballad premieres at the Dublin International Film Festival before heading to theaters on June 5. Between Rudd’s effortless charm and Jonas leaning into his pop legacy, this feels like a love letter to the messy, emotional, occasionally petty world of making music. If you’ve ever argued over a chord change, a credit line, or who really came up with the hook, this one might hit you right in the chorus.