Film Review: Yesterday

Sexuality/Nudity Acceptable
Violence Acceptable
Vulgarity Acceptable
Anti-Catholic Philosophy Acceptable

"Do you want to drink from the poison chalice of money and fame?"

This is the key question behind Danny Boyle's new musical dramedy: Yesterday.

Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a struggling musician who is living at one England, stuck in a dead-end job and going from one pathetic gig to another with the help of his life-long friend and manager Ellie (Lily James).  Just as he decides to give up the music life forever, a world-wide blackout hits and Jack is hit by a bus.  When he wakes, he discovers that no one on Earth remembers the music of the Beatles.  So Jack decides pass off the songs as his own, thus receiving acclaim and notoriety.  He eventually is brought to the Malibu home of record producer Debra Hammer (Kate McKinnon) who asks the above question about money and fame.  The movie follows Jack's rise to stardom along with its benefits and costs.

Boyle makes a movie that is pleasant, but not great.  The script by Jack Barth and Richard Curtis make our main character likeable enough even as he attempts to deceive the world with his borrowed talent.  But honestly, without the Beatles music, this movie would score lower with viewers.  I've always espoused the belief that music is a shortcut to emotion and it can cause you to respond in ways beyond the rational.  This is the reason I think a show as horribly written as Glee became so popular so quickly.  Yesterday is not horribly written, but the music gives it a much higher elevation than it would have on its own.  If you are a fan of the Beatles, which I am, you wait with eager anticipation for which song will come next.  Unlike Across the Universe, where each song was introduced with an eye-rolling non sequitur, Yesterday finds just the right song for the right place in the story.  Hearing all the songs together will renew your appreciation for the place the band has in musical history.  Even some songs I had forgotten were given a strong spotlight.  In a scene where Jack has to go into a song-writing contest with Ed Sheeran (playing himself), we are reintroduced to "The Long and Winding Road" and how poetic and lyrical it is.  I still have "O-blah-di, O-blah-da" running through my head.

The story hinges on the romance between Jack and Ellie.  From the beginning, it is clear that Ellie is head-over-heels for Jack, who is completely oblivious.  Honestly, this was the biggest problem with the story.  My suspension of disbelief can accept a world of collective amnesia for a '60's pop group, but I draw the line at a red-blooded single man putting Lilly James in the friend-zone.  It is the plot point on which all of the story rests, but it makes no sense.  The filmmakers don't even go to the stereotype of making her look a bit frumpy.  Yes, this is a trope, but it helps create the cinematic language for the story.  They could have even done a few short scenes to give any kind of reason for Jack's lack of attraction towards Ellie.  Instead, I could not invest in this central conflict of the film, because I couldn't believe it could happen.  

However, I will say that the third act takes some nice and pleasantly surprising paths.  Just when I thought I had the movie locked-down, it introduced some new perspectives.  And there is a scene at cottage by the beach (which I will not spoil here), that was so touching it actually made me let out a little gasp.

Besides the Beatles music, the other thing that raises this film out of mediocrity are the performances of the leads.  Patel is great as Jack.  He is a flawed and temperamental artist, but he gives him enough charm and humanity for us to stay with him through his great deception.  James is also great as Ellie, effortlessly showing us her emotional range and making the audience desperate for her character to find happiness.  The rest of the supporting cast is fine, but nothing too memorable.  Ed Sheeran still has much to learn as an actor, but he did a fine job of showing the fake face of admiration that is covering a seething jealousy.  

I also enjoyed the exploration of the "poison chalice" of fame.  So many of us want to be rich and famous and yet movies like this constantly warn us against it.  I couldn't help but think of Patel and how he was playing the part of a man who learns the emptiness of fame all the while the actor is hoping this movie brings him more fame.  Can you decry the decadence of stardom while being a star?  I suppose you can, but how believable will your message be?  Regardless, I love the way the movie contrasts the two worlds of celebrity and ordinary life.  As with Spider-Man: Far From Home, there is a strong pull to the beauty of the simple things of life like love and family.  But can Jack walk away from being a legend as big as the Beatles?

You'll have to see the movie to find out.

Yesterday is not as great as it wants to be.  But it is good enough that you will enjoy the time you spend watching it and being awash in nostalgia for the Fab Four.