Imagine

Rating: 6/10 (10 June 2019)

2019 Oak Cliff Film Festival
Greetings again from the darkness. A world without music from The Beatles? It's hard to "imagine". It's not as simple as never having their classics played on the radio, as the number of musicians influenced by their work is roughly the size of the list of every musician who has ever written or sang a song over the past 60 years. Of course, that's a bit too much to tackle in a movie, so director Danny Boyle (Oscar winner for SLUMBDOG MILLIONAIRE) simplifies things by serving up a 12 second global power outage.
Jack Malik (Himesh Patel, "EastEnders") is the epitome of a struggling musician. He plays kids' parties and pubs where the only applause is from his small group of friends who enjoy busting his chops over his "summer" song. His lifelong friend Ellie (Lily James, BABY DRIVER, MAMMA MIA!, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES) is also his manager and roadie ... his only true supporter. There is an unrequited attraction between the two, and since the script comes from Richard Curtis (LOVE ACTUALLY), we know where this is headed.
When the global power outage hits, Jack is on his bicycle and a collision with a bus puts him in the hospital. During recovery, he stumbles on to the fact that he is the only person who remembers music from John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Quickly capitalizing on the opportunity, Jack frantically tries to recall the lyrics to the songs, and in short time is replacing his playlist post-it notes with the familiar (to us) song titles, and blowing people away with "his" formidable songwriting and incredible music.
Fortune shines on Jack and his new songs, and soon Ed Sheeran (playing himself) is helping Jack's career, while at the same time being humbled by these songs. It's at this point where Kate McKinnon joins in as the money-grubbing talent agent who recognizes a gold mine when she hears it. Additional comedy is provided by Joel Fry as Rocky, Jack's new roadie; and a trip to Liverpool follows, as does a world tour and album recording session.
Danny Boyle is known best for his likeable, easy to digest films that are typically crowd-pleasers, but leave me wanting more depth and substance. This one fits right in. It's funny ("Hey Dude", Abbey Road is just a road) and has amazing music (of course). However, where Lily James plays her role perfectly, Himesh Patel - despite a fine singing voice - simply lacks the charisma and screen presence to carry the film. We rarely feel his inner turmoil in living this whopper of a lie, and the film never really clicks as a Rom-Com. In fact, the only thing we should be loving here is the Beatles music. The film plays a bit like Rod Serling decided to take "The Twilight Zone" into comedy. The real impact would be lost, but it would still likely draw a crowd.