Yesterday
2019
**½
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Kate McKinnon, Ed Sheeran, Joel Fry, Meera Syal, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Lamorne Morris, Sophia Di Martino, Ellise Chappell, Sarah Lancashire, Robert Carlyle
Jack Malik, a struggling English singer-songwriter, wakes up to find that he is the only person in the world who remembers The Beatles and their music. Although Jack becomes a star, he struggles with guilt over taking credit for the band's work and his unspoken feelings towards his best friend/manager Ellie. Danny Boyle's musically flavoured fantasy comedy wants us to believe that all you need to succeed in the music world is some good tunes. The Beatles songs may be timeless, but some of them could also feel dated. I'm not convinced that naive and innocent love songs like I Want to Hold Your Hand or She Loves You would go down a storm, or that Back in the U.S.S.R. would make much sense to today’s generation. Implausible though it may be, this is the clever and original part of the film, which on the whole is a massive missed opportunity. Richard Curtis, who rewrote Jack Barth's 2012 script, gradually turns this intriguing scenario into one of his formulaic and indistinguishable romcoms, which includes bumbling characters, public declarations of love, and even the obligatory end credit montage to show us what happens to the characters in the near future. Despite all of the flaws, Himesh Patel does give a very charismatic lead performance.
