Geekatana Movie Review: Yesterday

Yesterday is a movie that tries to envision a world where the Beatles never existed, or at least that's as much as I know about the film going into the theater. I was skeptical when the theater I went to was giving away free popcorn with every movie ticket purchase which by experience isn't a good sign. There's a surprisingly large audience on a weekend so at least that's a bit comforting.

I'm not a big Beatles fan but I do love a lot of their songs even if I can't remember each of the title off the top of my head. Their music is like one of those old friends you don't see much yet when you do its always a good sign. On a worst case this is going to be a guilty pleasure for me regardless. Also probably minor spoilers.

Yesterday as I mentioned at the beginning of this review is a imagine of a world where the Beatles does not exist all thanks to a mysterious worldwide blackout. And struggling musician Jack Malik is the only one that remembers them. He finds himself becoming famous from playing their song but soon finds out that rich and famous isn't all the great things he thought it would be.

The plot is pretty much as the trailer showed it yet offers very little to the hows and why Malik is in this alternate world he found himself in. The movie concentrate more on his rise to fame and his changing relationship with his family, friends and his manager Ellie (Lily James) making the movie more of a love story than just a love letter to the Beatles.

The movie plays it too safe giving little to no new stuff that would make this movie stands out from the rest. The tale has been done before and many times over and it doesn't help that nearly all of the good scenes was already shown in the trailer. The jokes was either a hit or miss for me but I did managed a chuckle once or twice.

As characters goes Jack Malik, Ellie and Ed Sheeran are the only well developed ones that exhibit development in the movie while the rest was just cliche one tone characters either as plot devices to move the story or comedic relief. Even the female manager in the film has this dead pan way of delivering his line that is supposed to be funny but at times falls flat. There's even a running gag that they did a couple of times in the film right up to the last few minutes of the film that felt over used by the third time they shown it.

The music was ok but most of the best songs was already shown in the trailer and those that they didn't show fail to give the emotion and excitement for me due to some lyrics falling flat but I guess I'm just being picky. It wasn't In the end the enjoyment of the music all hinders on how well you love and hate music covers of someone singing Beatle songs. Also this movie felt more like a love story than a homage film to the Beatles...it clearly needed more songs.

Fans of the Beatles will find this somewhat entertaining despite a lot of the songs feeling a bit too short. The movie was almost two hours long but still felt some scene should have been longer while some scenes needed to shorter or cut off entirely. To prove a point there's a joke about a writer and a softdrink brand that could have been clearly been cut out that wouldn't affect the outcome of the plot in the slightest. It's just there for a laugh.

Overall the movie Yesterday is a good movie that played a bit too safe to be anything new that hasn't been done before. A lot of folks will probably see this for the Beatles songs and much less for anything else. If you have the cash to spare and really love the Beatles than go see this film. The movie had potential but chooses to play it too safe.