Don't watch it if you want to learn more about The Beatles' lives on the road.

Rating: 7/10 (20 September 2005)

Even though I wasn't even born when The Beatles split up, let alone that I witnessed their biggest successes (I was born in 1978), that doesn't mean that I don't know them or their music of course. My mother as well as my father had a lot of records from what might well be the best-known pop/rock band ever and that's how I learned to appreciate their music at a very young age. I also knew that The Beatles had played in a couple of movies, but until now I never had seen one of them. Not really knowing what to expect, I hoped for the best and was willing to be surprised by it.
This movie tries to show us what the 'average' day in the life of the Beatles looks like. Traveling through the country from one TV-studio to the next hotel room, they meet a lot of people, but also take their time to have a lot of fun together, much to the despair of their manager and crew who don't always know where they are at the times that they need them. And to complicate things a little bit more, they also have to take the grandfather of one of the guys with them and all he likes is to play little mind games with every person that he meets...
Even though I didn't know anything about this movie in advance, I hoped that it would be some kind of documentary, showing how they had to deal with all the success and the crazy fans. In a way this movie does show that, but it wasn't exactly the way I hoped it would be. Realism clearly wasn't the first concern and too often you feel that some of the jokes have been staged. They just try to make you believe that this is a documentary, but the natural feeling of the documentary style is sometimes very far away and that's too bad. Does that mean that this entire movie isn't any good? No, certainly not. The music really makes it all worthwhile and it's nice to see some actual concert footage in between the staged performances.
This film will be loved most by the fans of the first hour who want to see their idols once again, but in my opinion this isn't the kind of movie for the people who want to learn more about The Beatles. But even when you don't know much about them and you just love the music, than I wouldn't hesitate to give it a try. I know I didn't and I liked it a lot. I'm sure that many others in my situation will love it too, just don't expect to see reality. I give this movie a rating in between 7/10 and 7.5/10. I loved the music, but wished for a little bit more of realism.