Over fifty years ago, a group of young men from Liverpool
thought it would be a wonderful idea to name themselves after invertebrates and
get jamming. Yep, I’m talking John, Paul, George, and Ringo, who not only
exuded huge influence on popular music to the presence day, but found
themselves namesakes for approximately eighty six billion young boys in
English-speaking countries then. Indeed, their influence stretched as far as an
even larger amount of people in the present that either covered their sounds with
annoying acoustic guitars, or tried to ape them with original pretentious crooning,
also with annoying acoustic guitars.
So, this brings us to Yesterday, the latest outing by
British director Danny Boyle—whose filmography has veered pretty widely from
feelgood pieces like this film, Slumdog Millionaire, and Millions, to
gloriously grim epics like Trainspotting and 28 Days Later. You have to admire
that sort of versatility if nothing else. This one falls into the former
category, and as you’ve guessed just so happens to be themed around the
Beatles.
Like in basically all British comedies, the main character
here is a bit of a loser schmuck that life loves to crap on—in this case, it’s
Jack Malik, played by Himesh Patel. Slumming through life with his girlfriend
Ellie, played by Lily James, Malik aims for the big shots like any inspiring
musician, but can only manage the kiddy tents at festivals. Before long, however,
the entire Earth passes through some sort of strange anomaly that drifted out
of a Star Trek episode, and a hit on the noggin by means of bus at the right
moment sends Malik into a strange new universe that’s exactly like our own, but
apparently the Fab Four decided to forget about it.
As such, Malik decides to hit on fame and fortune by recreating
their discography and shooting to the top. The predictable themes of being true
to yourself, struggling with a lie, and fame and fortune versus family and
friends, all go along with this—some of the characters, like Malik’s stone
friend Rocky (Joel Fry), are more amusing than others, and there are some
chuckle- worthy moments, though nothing that’ll blow your mind in any way.
Also, Ed Sheeran appears as the one that gets Malik to the
top, playing a bigger role than I thought he might. Now, let me just say, I
have nothing against Ed Sheeran personally—I’m sure he’s a decent fella to
meet. It’s just that, well, one of his songs, played seemingly absolutely everywhere
all over the world like an inescapable maddening mind virus, has a tendency to
send me into an aneurysm, and unfortunately a snippet of it does get played
here. I’ll give you a hint—it’s that one song that could be boiled down to a
really drunk bar pickup line.
Besides that, there’s of course the cartoonishly evil record
producer Debra, played by Kate McKinnon, and a few unexpected characters that
liven things up briefly. Malik unfortunately isn’t the most gripping or
supremely likeable protagonist, and just sort of bumbles through most of the
film, putting on covers of Beatles songs that range about in quality. Personally,
I was hoping for ‘Tax-Man’ or ‘Helter-Skelter’ to appear, but oh well.
Overall, there’s not much more to say about Yesterday—if you
want a fairly simple and straightforward comedy-romance film that happens to be
Beatles themed, it’s fine. There’s some standout moments, but a stronger lead (which
I think mostly boils down to the writing—Patel seems to be doing the best with what
he has for most of it) could’ve made it that much better. Or perhaps having a
Blue Meanie star in it. Ultimately, I’m not going to take Maxwell’s Silver
Hammer to it, but I’m not sure I’ll remember this one when I’m sixty-four…
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