Review of Yesterday (2019) by Markhreviews — 05 Jul 2019

“Yesterday” is based on a truly inspired premise: following a 12-second blackout around the globe, we enter a world where no one other than the hero of the piece, Jack Malik, has ever heard of The Beatles. We never know why, we just become aware that it’s happened. This turn of events is extremely convenient, since Jack is a musician who would have to improve his stage presence and his repertoire in order to graduate to the category of “struggling artist.” But suddenly, Jack has at his disposal the entire Beatles songbook. Appropriating their songs as his own, Jack becomes an overnight sensation.

This film benefits from a fabulous cast, in both major and minor roles. As Jack, Himesh Patel (“EastEnders”) is an appealing, compelling actor with the musical chops to carry off his singing role convincingly. As his friend/manager Ellie, Lily James (“Downton Abbey,” “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”) is simply luminous. James is so appealing that one of the more implausible elements of the script is Jack’s ambivalence about his feelings for her. Ed Sheeran, as Ed Sheeran, is funny and self-deprecating. Sarah Lancashire (“Happy Valley”) clearly is enjoying herself in a small but critical role.

For 80% of the film, the story, the music and the characters are all great fun. We’re treated to a series of well-delivered Beatles tunes (18 in all), a pretty traditional rom-com story line and the feeling that “all our troubles seemed so far away.” And there are so many places the screenplay could have taken us: an exploration of the dangers of instant fame, a critique of the music industry, a dissection of the consequences of building a career on plagiarism. Instead, in act three, Screenwriter Richard Curtis (“Love Actually,” the under-appreciated “Pirate Radio”) simply loses his mind. Inexplicably, he introduces a gratuitous Beatles reference that had many, including myself, squirming with discomfort. And the way Curtis’s script resolves the love story and Jack’s plagiarism is unsatisfyingly simplistic to the point of insulting the audience. I don’t think I’ve ever before experienced a movie where I was so appreciative of the initial premise, so won over by the characters and so transported by the music, only to leave during the closing credits feeling let down, frustrated, even offended. “Now I need a place to hide away, oh I believed in ‘Yesterday.