Decent musical drama, with too much sophistication and predictable solutions

Rating: 7/10 (6 July 2014)

The Beatles was not music of my youth and I was no hippie (due to much younger age), thus I had no nostalgic feelings about the period - late 1960ies. But I like musicals - in spite of trivial plots - and I welcome when "ordinary" actors perform singing as well. The latter was in place here, but as "real" and good actors like Joe Cocker and Bono were used as well, there was a big voice-related contrast (unlike in Mamma Mia!, for example). The plot was just okay, without sudden twists, and some scenes were aridly constructed based on a song-text, there others had too many hints to psychedelic experiences arising from new drugs. The ending was also anticipated.
As the plot involves both Americans and Brits, the inclusion of British actors is logical - and usually their performances tend to excel the American ones. Not here, though: American females (particularly Evan Rachel Wood as Lucy) were much stronger than British males (Jim Sturgess as Jude and Joe Anderson as Max). Luckily, there were several smaller but great performances (Dana Fuchs as Sadie, Eddie Izzard as Mr. Kite - to name a few).
Therefore, Across the Universe is not bad, but I find Les Miserables or even Mamma Mia! more interesting and smooth.