USA TODAY International Edition
‘Yesterday’ imagines a world with no Beatles
The romantic comedy “Yesterday” has the kind of simple conceit – what if The Beatles never existed? – so intriguing and irresistible that you just know it’ll get screwed up somewhere in execution.
Well, the good news is, the musical fantasy (★★★☆; rated PG-13; in theaters nationwide Friday) is a mostly enjoyable stroll down Penny Lane. Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”) and Richard Curtis (“Love Actually”) team up for a tribute to the Fab Four’s rich catalog – and a sometimes sobering exploration of instant fame – that introduces an endearing, guitarstrumming star in British actor Himesh Patel.
Disappointingly, though, especially for those who dig the idea, “Yesterday” doesn’t do nearly enough with a Beatles-less world we can only imagine, instead focusing on the kind of predictable love story we’ve seen before.
Jack Malik (Patel) is an English singer/songwriter toiling at a local bigbox store and hoping for his big break. After yet another music festival where no one other than his manager/No. 1 fan/best pal Ellie (Lily James) shows up for his set, Jack considers putting his guitar away for good.
While he’s riding home one night on his bike, the whole world suffers a mysterious 12-second blackout and Jack gets hit by a bus. He wakes up in a hospital without his two front teeth, but there’s something else missing: Jack discovers, inexplicably, he’s the only person who remembers The Beatles and their canon of great songs. So why not claim them as his own and finally find some fans?
Jack peppers his wall with Post-its of song titles, trying to remember them all (“Eleanor Rigby” turns out to be a tricky bugger), and playing them in public leads to an impressed Ed Sheeran (playing himself) taking Jack on tour. Jack gets a high-profile manager (Kate McKinnon), becomes the next big thing, but feels guilty about his success coming off the work of John, Paul, George and Ringo, rather than his own.
Curtis’ screenplay captures the same English quirkiness of his past charmers such as “About Time” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” and there’s a joyful marriage of tunes and situations. Of course Jack “debuts” the fitting tune “Back in the U.S.S.R.” when playing a Moscow club – though people wonder why he’s referencing the Soviet connection so hard – and when he sings “Help!” later in the movie, it’s one of his most rocking performances, in which the lyrics match his struggling, desperate state of mind.
Like a not-so-serious “Twilight Zone” episode, “Yesterday” is clever in teasing out what’s changed in Jack’s post-blackout – let’s just say stuff we take for granted other than The Beatles also has disappeared – and there’s one scene in particular that follows the concept to a surprising, heartfelt place. Not having The Beatles as an everyday cultural influence begs for exploration into how much they really changed everything, and in that sense, “Yesterday” fumbles a gem of an opportunity to do something riskier.
As the iconic quartet sang, “We all live in a yellow submarine,” but it’s fun to wonder about if we didn’t.