YESTERDAY

THIS Beatles juke box musical romcom is an amiable and safe disappointment from the dream team of writer Richard Curtis and director Danny Boyle.

Gently humorous but shy of laughs, we have every right to expect a much funnier script from the witer who gave us Blackadder and Four Weddings, and something more interesting from the maker of Trainspotting.

Watching it is akin to listening to a coffee shop cover song compilation while idly flicking through a Boden clothes catalogue. Following a road traffic accident and a global electrical blackout, a

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(12A)

CHRISTOPHER HUNNEYSETT

busker wakes up to discover he’s the only person in the world with any knowledge of The Beatles.

Using the Fab Four’s songs to become famous, Himesh Patel’s Jack must choose between global superstardom and the true love of Ellie (played by Lily James). The pair are sweet and charming, and US comic Kate McKinnon is nicely acerbic as a US music promoter.

As The Beatles had split up before I was born, it’s questionable how many of those under 30 are sufficiently well versed in their music to understand the many laboured references and jokes.

So alongside Beatles songs such as Hey Jude, there’s also lots of singer Ed Sheeran, whose own tunes seem even more insubstantial here.

Boyle contributes a typically bold colour scheme and clearly enjoyed animating visuals to accompany the classic tunes, while also riffing on The Beatles’ caper A Hard Day’s Night.

But this is mostly a greatest hits package of Curtis’s well-worn tunes, with a tongue-tied Englishman oblivious to his gorgeous best friend fancying him, wacky friends and even a romantic dash to a train station.

Curtis has maintained a career by borrowing heavily from authors such as Shakespeare and Jane Austen, and now has written a script about a singer who steals from the world’s biggest band.

It’s an exercise in self-justification, and Curtis should let it be.