There’s no denying that Paul Rudd is great in a buddy comedy (see I Love You, Man, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and everybody’s favorite cringe comedy, Friendship), and Nick Jonas is obviously an appropriate choice to play a former boyband star, so right off the bat, Power Ballad seems to be hitting all the right notes. The musical dramedy is the latest from John Carney — whose work regularly explores the connections that can be made through music and songwriting — and critics are mostly charmed by the leads' chemistry and the emotions the movie evokes.
Paul Rudd stars as Rick Power, the lead singer of a wedding band who gave up his dreams of being a rock star to start a family, and Nick Jonas as Danny Wilson, a boyband veteran who’s struggling to go solo. The two form an instant musical connection, which sours after Rick realizes Danny stole a song from him that he’d been working on for years. Ian Freer of Empire gives it 4 out of 5 stars. saying the lead actors are a delight together in this big-hearted film. In his Power Ballad review, Freer writes:
