Ah, another John Carney. I can expect music and angst and not quite the emotional payoff I am looking for. Some will swear by his films, and some, like me, will leave swearing. For while John Carney can identify romance in music form better than any human living; he seems to fall well shy of finding romance in film, which -sadly- is his medium.
Rick Power (Paul Rudd) is a loser. No one is gonna tell him that. He kinda knows. It’s ok being a loser. He had a shot. He took it. He failed. Now he covers hits in a wedding-themed quintet entitled “The Bride and Groove.” Look, if you love music enough to play covers at a wedding, hey, go for it. No disrespect. But it is fair to say that few people on this planet have a dream of playing covers in a band strictly intended to play wedding receptions. For one thing, the pay must suck, right? But, hey, if you love what you do, the pay doesn’t matter, right?
Well, unless, like Rick, you have a wife and a teen girl to support … and, like Rick, you’re a failed rock star. All John Carney films are set in Ireland, so the film has to imagine a premise to get Rick there and has come up with “he married an Irish woman and stayed.” Ok, fine. And, lo-and-behold, it just so happens that Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), former boy band standout, has showed up at an Irish castle wedding with The Bride and Groove” at the helm. Danny has gone solo and is in the middle of writing the album that takes you from “former boy band” to “superstar.” He and Rick form a fast friendship on stage and the after-party celebration finds these two alone together spit-balling ideas, lyrics, and melodies for Danny’s new album.
And, oops, late in the evening, Rick just happens to trot out an unfinished tune entitled, “How to Write a Song (Without You).”
If you don’t see this one coming, I applaud your entrance to this world; I hope it turns out all right for you, but I’m guessing it will not as you’ve entered a universe in which Donald Trump is still President and the vast majority of fragile, new minds are either tools or doormats. But, hey, there’s a lot of films wish I could see anew. Perhaps an upside to dementia (speaking of Trump).
Anyway, we love Paul Rudd. Hard not to. Likable. Happy-go-lucky. Friendly. Nice. Seems like the kind of guy you would love to drink the night away and tool songs with. What more could you like? Yeah, well, Rick Power spends an hour of film time being pissed off in Power Ballad. I can’t tell you why, but it shouldn’t be too hard to guess. And it’s tough watching a guy you like steeped in such anger. This is the polt of the movie, unfortunately.
(And I’m telling you right now, this is a John Carney film; it will not resolve to my satisfaction. Your satisfaction may vary.)
What Carney does as well as any director on Earth is introduce us to new music. There are a few new tunes here, but “How to Write a Song (Without You)” is the only one worth hearing. I can and will like the film for that alone. As with all Carney films, I wish I liked it more than I did. So many people love his films. I’m just stuck in a world where a romantic song should accompany a great romance, which, unfortunately, is something this director sucks at. Harumph.
♪If I was watching crap
Something made for an app
My annoyance would be so damn loud
Plenty words to write
From a place of spite
I might not get them all clean
You would see what I mean
How to rate a film without blue
I still say ‘shit” and not “poo”
Asterisks, whatchagonnado?
For every film I hated in my life, so much blue♫
Rated R, 98 Minutes
Director: John Carney
Writer: John Carney, Peter McDonald
Genre: Come for the music, stay for the … music
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who need a good Power Ballad in their lives
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “Paul Rudd is unhappy for like a whole hour of film time”
♪ Parody Inspired by “How to Write a Song (Without You)”
