Writer-director John Carney specialises in funny, heart-warming, music-centred films about ordinary people whose lives are transformed by song. If that sounds schmaltzy and earnest, it is, and the world is better for it. His latest movie is a genuinely delightful genuinely laugh-out-loud funny film called POWER BALLAD.
It stars as Paul Rudd as an ageing wedding band musician whose music is ripped off by Nick Jonas' former boy bander who needs a hit to turn his career around. So Rudd's character and his best mate and band mate Sandy (co-writer Peter McDonald) go to LA to confront the musician and get paid. The moral of the story is that real love, real family, real friends matter more than success but that most people haven't got the emotional depth to realise it. I laughed a lot - McDonald's Sandy is iconic - but it also got a little dusty in the cinema at the end. A good time was had by all!
POWER BALLAD has a running time of 98 minutes and is rated R. It is on limited release in the UK and USA.
