I can’t believe it’s been as long as it has since we learned to fall slowly, but John Carney has since made a career out of films using music as their core. The director of Once transitioned from that Academy Award-winning film into the popular Sing Street, my personal favorite Begin Again, the complicated Flora and Son, and now Power Ballad, the newest music-centric film starring Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas.

This one centers around Rick, an older musician who gave up his rock star years when he met a girl, settled down, and became a dad. Now he works in a wedding band, playing the greatest hits of other people while still being a songwriter at heart. At one wedding, he ends up meeting Danny, a famous ex-boy bander played by Nick Jonas, who is still looking to drop his debut solo album, with all the pressure of needing to prove he can be a solo act after leaving a boy band. Something I’m sure Nick Jonas was able to relate to. The two bond over music, and eventually they end up having a little jam session in their hotel, which leads to Rick playing a song he had written. The song earworms its way into Danny’s head, and later, when he’s back in Los Angeles and at a loss as a songwriter himself, he starts playing the song he remembers. When his girlfriend asks him who he wrote the song for, he just rolls with it and says he wrote it for her. It turns out this song is going to change his life forever. But will it change Rick’s?

I love the irony in the song being titled How To Write A Song Without You, because that’s kind of at the core of the film. It’s basically slapping you in the face. Danny really isn’t capable of writing a hit song on his own, so he has to use Rick’s song. Although, when Rick catches wind of this new hit and tries to find a recording of himself having performed the song before, he can’t find one. He even admits that Danny did a little bit of work to it by adding a bridge and slightly improving the song.

So really, these are two people who should be a songwriting duo. But because of the way they go about it, this becomes an incredibly contentious relationship. Something that could have been a friendship is instead fractured almost immediately over Danny’s decision to take full credit for writing the song. Because Rick can’t prove he wrote it first, all he can really do is try to guilt trip Danny.

The film becomes about Rick learning to accept his life and accept the fact that he loves what he does. Because Danny is never going to throw away this wildly successful career he now has just because he’s growing a conscience. Or is he?

John Carney didn’t necessarily make his best film here. I’m not sure how I would rank Once, Sing Street, and Begin Again, three films I love. Power Ballad is probably right below those, but definitely ahead of Flora and Son. It’s a drama mixed with some comedy mixed with a catchy song, and it’s the kind of pick-me-up we need in the middle of the summer. I hope audiences flock to it.

It does have audio description, and considering the film has a lot of dialogue, music, and singing, I was impressed by the description we got because at least there was some decent description in there. They also dodged some of the stupid rules of the past with regards to audio description. For example, instead of making us wonder what the girlfriend of Danny’s character is named, she gets a name immediately, even though he doesn’t say it. That means she doesn’t have to be described constantly by her looks, which helps identify her once we know what she looks like and can assign a name to her. So I appreciate the audio description. I like the movie, and it’s an easy recommend.

Just because something isn’t the greatest thing I’ve ever seen doesn’t mean it’s not a good movie that you should see. Everything is on a sliding scale anyway, and lots of things can be good without changing the world or making your Top 100 Films Of All Time list.

Power Ballad is definitely worth the price of whatever you’ll pay to see it because it’s entertaining. The only divisive thing may be the ending, depending on whether or not it satisfies you. It is kind of a bold move from Carney, but I didn’t mind it too much. I would have loved to see some of the other options he might have been considering, but this one is certainly a bold choice. And I do like bold choices.

Power Ballad is the song of the summer, with a wonderful performance from Paul Rudd, who proves surprisingly capable of carrying the musical side of the film, and Nick Jonas, who is able to use his own history in the music industry to make Danny feel like more than just the villain standing between Rick and his song.

It may not be John Carney’s greatest hit, but not every song on the album has to be the single. Sometimes you just want something catchy enough that you’re still humming it on the way home. Power Ballad does that.

Fresh: 8.4/10