Review - Power Ballad

Starring Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas, Peter McDonald, Jack Reynor. Written by John Carney and Peter McDonald. Directed by John Carney. Rated R. 98 minutes. In theaters.

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Paul Rudd’s character in “Power Ballad” is named Rick Power. In theory, this should make up for how disappointed I was back in January when Jason Statham wasn’t playing a guy named John Shelter in “Shelter.” But here, I can’t help feeling like it’s a bit of a cheat. See, the movie concerns a song written by Rudd’s washed-up wedding band singer that’s stolen and turned into the first #1 solo single for aging former boy band star Danny Wilson, played by real-life aging former boy band star Nick Jonas. The tune in question, called “How to Write a Song,” is indeed a ballad. But it’s not a power ballad. Hence Rick’s name, I guess.

The movie is a lot like the song: a drippy little MOR ditty that’s not quite catchy enough to get stuck in your head. Director John Carney has been specializing in these kind of affable semi-musicals ever since his 2007 busker romance “Once” became one of those Sundance sensations that everyone got mad at me for not liking very much. I passed on “Power Ballad” at this year’s Independent Film Festival Boston, in part because fest directors Brian Tamm and Nancy Campbell still joke about how quickly I bolted from a screening of Carney’s treacly 2016 “Sing Street.” (I can still see Tamm standing in the Coolidge lobby, saying “Already? Damn.”)