How can the movie theatre be empty? That’s what I thought when I went to see Power Ballad in its opening week – and on cheap Tuesdays, to boot. Hasn’t everyone been waiting for a whole film of Paul Rudd singing ever since he belted out Rush’s Limelight  in I Love You, Man? Doesn’t a Jonas Brother, especially Nick, the cute one married to Priyanka Chopra, draw a crowd? I guess in today’s world of horror movie domination, they’d have to be locked in a series of Backrooms or acting out their violent Obsession with each other in order to make an impact.

Is he 37 or 57? From left: Rudd, seen earlier this month at the Tribeca Film Festival, is the latter; wielding a guitar in the Power Ballad poster; his co-star in the film, Nick Jonas; and Jonas with his wife Priyanka Chopra earlier this year.  |  Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival (Rudd); courtesy of David Cleary/Lionsgate; Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic (Chopra/Jonas)

There’s currently no love for a tender little dramedy starring Hollywood’s favourite ageless sweetheart – at 57, Rudd looks the same as he did 20 years ago – as a charming wedding singer and a real-life pop star playing a morally ambiguous version of himself. Rudd’s character, Rick, has given up his rock ’n’ roll dreams to settle down and raise a family with a girl from Dublin, but when he meets former boy-bander Danny (Jonas), who’s having trouble launching a solo career, their mutual admiration results in a power ballad the world can’t resist.

In the vein of Once, The Commitments and Yesterday, the film is a throwback gem, with two unthreatening baby-faced stars with multi-gen appeal, plus a scrappy Irish supporting cast and plenty of nostalgic wedding-reception-dance-floor jams: Celebration, The Boys Are Back in Town, Summer of ’69, etc. It’s a fun and nuanced note for Rudd to play in his hard-to-pigeonhole career, which started with the sarcastic stepbrother-turned-boyfriend to Alicia Silverstone’s Cher in Clueless (1995) and the gay-best-friend-turned-co-parent alongside Jennifer Aniston in The Object of My Affection (1998) – both of which are annual re-watches for me. He’s never been a tough guy action hero or a swoonworthy romantic leading man; but he does have his own perfectly tailored Marvel character, the small-but-mighty, dry-humoured and self-deprecating Ant-Man, and is a staple in comedies with heart and a little bit of raunch, think Anchorman and anything by Judd Apatow – like when Rudd helped define Gen X’s midlife crisis moment in This is 40. And, of course, he’s the prince of bromances, from the above-mentioned, perfectly silly I Love You, Man with Jason Segel and last year’s darker, more uncomfortable Friendship with Tim Robinson, to any number of hilarious videos in which longtime buds Rudd and Jack Black break into their own brand of lyrical pyrotechnics.

In Power Ballad, Rudd and Jonas have more of a one-night (bro) stand than a true bromance – and they spend the rest of the movie on separate continents coming to terms with its consequences. While it leads to a pretty satisfying conclusion, Jonas told interviewers he wants more and is hoping for a sequel. I’d say, do it now because you’re not getting any younger – but actually, his co-star kinda is. As Canadian leading man Ryan Reynolds said when Rudd was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine in 2021: “He’s possibly the nicest human being in all of show business. He’s aging backward because of his contract with Satan.”

Rudd and his wedding band of Irish lads in Power Ballad.  |  Courtesy of David Cleary/Lionsgate