Yesterday: My Good, Bad, and Ugly

Rating: 7/10 (3 July 2019)

The Good:
In a cast made up primarily of caricatures and walking genre tropes Himesh Patel shines as an acting talent and musical performer. Without much to play against Patel plays the role of a conflicted and lovesick musician perfectly, and his often emotional renditions of the songs of The Fab Four help make up for the middling performances of the rest of the cast. While it's still not enough to lift this movie out of the disappointingly average place it finds itself if, it is refreshing to find a fresh face with real talent among bigger stars phoning it in.
The Bad:
Because the movie doesn't feature much of The Beatles catalog prominently, it relies heavily on the romantic storyline between Patel and James, and their chemistry. Unfortunately, their chemistry falls short, and is confused by early dialogue that suggests James is uninterested, and that their relationship, romantic or otherwise, has always been driven by her, not Patel. With their lackluster romance in place, the comic relief of McKinnon and Fry, and the reserved inclusion of Beatles songs performed by Patel just aren't enough to ensure the success based on reinvigorated nostalgia that is clearly the aim of the film.
The Ugly:
For a nostalgic look back at The Beatles catalog there is no better film in its execution than Across the Universe (Julie Taymor, 2007). As a jukebox musical it's pretty generic. But, for Beatles fans it puts the music and the history of the band at its center without complicating its sensibility by trying to tell a narrative so separate from the music that the audience is left wondering where the two meet. In fact, the close parallels between the romance between the main characters, and the personal and career trajectories of The Beatles enrich the story in a way that Yesterday's imagined narrative apparently separate from any influence of The Beatles could never achieve.