Steaming pile of dung

Rating: 1/10 (1 November 2010)

Yes, drug use was rampant during the time the Beatles were big, but apparently it still is, seeing as how IMDb members have currently rated this better than 7 stars out of 10. This movie was in no way a tribute to the Beatles, but an insult. It was completely disjointed, as were most of the songs. The singing was appalling and the tempo was far too slow. The pathetic attempt to piece together a plot failed miserably, as did the attempt to be cute by issuing names that reference song titles to the characters, a couple of whom had no other reason for existing. When the movie finally ended, I was shocked to see that it had only run 2 hours; it felt as if it had dragged on for 3 or 4. It was all I could do to hold back the tears and the vomit as they proceeded to murder one tune after another.
As a Beatles fan, I saw "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" when it was released in the theater, and I wasn't very impressed by it at all, but at least it had a great wide cast with well-known, decent performers who did a much better job of singing Beatles songs as they were meant to be sung. Even its totally silly plot line looks like a work of Shakespeare next to "Across the Universe."
I have been an IMDb member for several years, yet this is the only review I have on file. What force compelled me to take the time to sit down and write one? Despite all the thousands of other bad movies out there, I simply felt it was my civic duty to specifically warn people just how BAD this one is. I realize it isn't very detailed, but that makes it an ideal representation of the movie itself: NO SUBSTANCE.