Irresistible

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2000)

A "typical" day in the life of the Beatles. They have to deal with Paul's grandfather (Wilfrid Brambell), a neurotic TV director (Victor Spinetti), their long-suffering managers and tons of screaming fans.
No real plot, just a lot of very lively sequences overflowing with one-liners and non sequiturs. The tone of the scenes go all over the place--one is full of verbal puns, the next visual gags, then absurdity reigns, THEN surrealism! It's a credit to director Richard Lester that he manages to keep all these various shifts in tone flowing smoothly. It's great to see that the Beatles are obviously enjoying themselves every minute. Some of the jokes are obscure (the "clean" jokes were based on remarks made about the Beatles back in 1962) and the accents are sometimes difficult. But it's great to see the Beatles so young and full of life and when they sing the film becomes magical. Also they have a good cast backing them up--Brambell and Spinetti are just great (and very funny). If you don't like the Beatles or their music, you might want to skip this film. But if you do, it's a must-see.