Review: Yesterday

Hard-working but unsuccessful singer/songwriter Himesh Patel has a cycling accident during a blackout and crashes into a bus. He wakes up in hospital with dodgy teeth…and the realisation that the world has undergone some changes. He now lives in a reality where his beloved Beatles do not exist. At all. None of their music. When his friends take an interest in a ‘new’ song he performs called ‘Yesterday’, Patel starts to see some potential here. The once-struggling musician has started to found success and fame by doing Beatles songs that no one has ever heard before. He mostly just wants this great music to exist in the world, but he does at first rather enjoy the success. Ed Sheeran even wants to work with the guy, and he’s snatched up by a cynical American agent (Kate McKinnon in full crazy-eyed schtick mode). However, Patel starts to feel guilty for taking credit for the poetry of others…and worried that someone somewhere is going to realise he’s a fraud. Meanwhile, his loyal manager and long-time best friend Lily James is getting mighty tired of waiting for Patel to realise that they’re meant to be together. Robert Carlyle appears briefly as an old man who in another life might’ve been someone famous.

The kind of film I sort of hate reviewing, this 2019 meeting of the minds of director Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”, “Sunshine”) and screenwriter Richard Curtis (writer of “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, writer-director of the highly entertaining “Love Actually” and underrated “The Boat that Rocked”) takes an unbeatable (if one-joke) premise and in the final quarter it completely and utterly cocks it up to a degree that made me furious. You won’t believe just how wrong the landing goes on this one, it takes the film from potentially being a Top 10 film to a film that barely even makes par. And given how much the finale pissed me off, giving this film a (conceded) pass is being awfully generous if you ask me. The other reason I hate this kind of film is because it means that I’m going to be issuing a spoiler warning after a while. It’s impossible not to because the ending is almost entirely my problem with the film.

To start with, a word or two about the leads. Although I found Himesh Patel rather dull and lacking in charisma in the all-important lead role, I have to say that Lily James has never radiated so warmly and sweetly on screen. She’s completely and utterly charming here and the best thing about the entire film. I also like that the music score by Daniel Pemberton incorporates some very Beatle-esque sounds, especially from “Sgt. Pepper”. I also commend the filmmakers in choosing the title, as the title and accompanying song are absolutely perfect for the central concept (And it’s also one of McCartney’s better ballads, along with ‘The Long and Winding Road’). Meanwhile, Patel’s mate hearing the title track and remarking ‘It’s no Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’…’ is particularly hilarious, at least to anyone who realises just how colossally shite Coldplay are. Little things about the inner-workings of the central conceit like there being no Oasis because they have direct influence from The Beatles, yet The Rolling Stones survive due to merely being contemporaries of The Beatles is clever stuff. I also found it funny that Patel struggles to remember the precise lyrics of every Beatles song. I know every word to ‘Eleanor Rigby’ because it’s my favourite Beatles song (unless you count Joe Cocker’s version of ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’, which I don’t) and we learnt it in primary school. However, I’d struggle with a lot of their catalogue for sure. Cocaine still being in use in this alternate reality but Coca-Cola being ruled out is an initially funny idea that had Coke-drinking, Pepsi-hating me thinking Curtis (and co-writer Jack Barth) had really thought this one out, no matter how I disagree with the choice of beverage. Also funny is how Patel tries to convince everyone how great these songs are, but because they have no understanding of The Beatles they just think he’s a giant egotistical wanker.

However, it was at this point that I was ever-so slightly starting to get a bit worried. I mean, surely they were going to address the pink elephant in the room, right? This guy’s a shit singer, average musician, and lyrics aren’t the only reason why people love The Beatles. As much as I prefer Joe Cocker’s version of ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’, you can’t deny that The Beatles were not just good lyricists, but also excellent performers and musicians. Surely the filmmakers are aware of this and had something up their sleeve to address this issue, right? I mean, how cool would the film be if it had Patel ‘write’ a Beatles song…and in this alternate reality it somehow flopped. That’d make for a fascinating film. Surely this film’s gonna take the initial good concept and do justice with it, right? Well, the film does bring up an interesting dilemma by having the Beatle-free society also be an anti-cigarette society. Now there’s a tough one, Beatles songs (albeit sung and played by a pretender) or cancer-causing tobacco? I’m not sure where I’d fall on that dilemma. No Coca-Cola would be the deal breaker for me, though. Ultimately though, this is the same film that treats Ed Sheeran like he’s someone who should matter, even though he only has one decent song to his name (Which would be ‘Perfect’). So, nah…this film’s got no idea there’s even an elephant in the room to begin with let alone what colour it is. Either that, or it’s made by people who aren’t particularly Beatles fans.

The longer the film went on, the more I felt a dreadful sinking feeling. The sinking starts with “SNL” star Kate McKinnon sticking out like a sore thumb and giving a sketch-level performance as a soulless agent. You never feel like she’s acting in the same film as everyone else, it’s too schtick-y from her. We then get an idiotic scene where the marketing team rejects all of the actual Beatles album title/cover ideas for dumb reasons, like ‘The White Album’ having ‘diversity issues’. Patel is brown FFS, and that’s just a corny “SNL” sketch gag that doesn’t belong in a feature film. Having said that, the nightmare scene of Patel being confronted by Paul and Ringo on James Corden’s show is hilarious, I’ll pay that. Although there’s a genuinely funny gag where Sheeran suggests Patel change the title of a popular Beatles song to ‘Hey Dude’, I did have to wonder if anyone in the making of the film realised why it’s funny (Because Metallica-Beatles mash-up band Beatallica already have a song called ‘Hey Dude’. Either they don’t exist in the alternate universe or Curtis and Boyle have seriously crap taste in music. Beatallica are awesome. By the way, without The Beatles I assume there’s no Rutles either, and that I just can’t abide!). I really loved the surprise cameo by a fairly unrecognisable Robert Carlyle playing a real-life character it should not have been possible for Patel to have met. It’s a shame Carlyle doesn’t attempt the correct accent, but I thought it was an interesting and unexpected character cameo nonetheless.

However, I started to resist the film’s central romantic match at some point around this time. I just didn’t see enough evidence that Patel had romantic interests in James’ character. Obviously that’s partly the point, but the audience at least needs a hint that something is there to at least have some sympathy for the guy once he starts professing his feelings for her. The way it plays out instead is unfair, because the poor girl has moved on now and it’s too late to be messing with her heart. More importantly, it started to bother me more and more that no one in the making of this film seemed bothered that one person was taking credit for the musicianship and artistry of four individuals. As I said, there was much more to The Beatles than their lyrics anyway. ****** SPOILER CITY FROM NOW ON ***** Eventually Patel does start to feel like he’s living a lie, yet his crap musicianship is never addressed. I think it’s something I was just meant to go with. I could not, especially the longer the film went on. Basically, the ending is complete and utter shite. He never finds a way back to reality, happily staying in the alternate reality. Apparently this is supposed to be a happy ending from Boyle and Curtis. I’m supposed to be happy that the world never gets to hear John, Paul, and Ringo play their own songs. We’re supposed to want to live in a world where a 3^rd rate Billy Bragg glorified busker sings mediocre covers of their work. Worst of all, I’m supposed to be glad that this bloke is stuck in a world with no fucking Coke, just Pepsi. No. It won’t do. It’s not a clever ‘messy’ ending, it’s just a wrong ending. I’m supposed to be satisfied that Patel merely confesses his sin and makes his entire catalogue of shithouse Beatles covers free for download on the internet and we’re able to drink fizzy brown piss. I get it, we can all turn off the movie and continue to live in the real world, this is just a movie. But movies, more often than not make statements that we are meant to take away. Are Curtis and Boyle seriously suggesting they’d like to live in a world that has Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Fizzy Piss, Harry Potter (Why? That seemed random), but no actual Beatles? That’s horrifying, not to mention the idea of there being no Soviet Union surely would have far more significant global impact than what Curtis and Boyle half-arsed-ly come up with. I get it, it’s a romantic comedy and a fable or whatever, I’m supposed to let it all wash over me like a moron. Nope, not doing that. Romcoms can be smart and sensical, too, Curtis has scripted a couple of terrific ones himself. This film ended up making me very, very angry and pissed away all of the goodwill it was building up. It wasn’t perfect up until that point, but this? No. Just no. One of the worst finales to any movie I’ve seen in 40 years on this earth.

What starts off as a clever and fun romcom and alternate reality fantasy eventually collapses due to wrongheaded decisions and a not especially likeable leading character/actor. Lily James shines brightly, but Curtis and Boyle either needed to rethink this, or hand the concept off to actual Beatles fans. What a major disappointment. I’ll be fascinated to learn if any of you agree, or whether you think I’m completely barking mad on this one. I get the feeling there will be two very distinct camps on this one, but just remember for all my hatred of the film’s conclusion I still didn’t think it was a bad film. Just a film that squandered a chance to be a lot better and pissed me off to boot.

Rating: C+