Enjoyable lite Beatles fantasy

Rating: Null/10 (11 July 2019)

Most of Richard Curtis' (NOTTING HILL, LOVE ACTUALLY) feature work has some element of playful fantasy to them. As long as one keeps that in mind, it's not really a leap to imagine the world of YESTERDAY where the Beatles never existed save for one dude. Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is that man. A small-time musician who travels around Suffolk with his combined manager and roadie Ellie (Lily James) just struggling to get by. The pair have known each other since they were kids, but, despite their close bond have never moved beyond the "friend zone". One night while riding his bike back from a gig, Jack is knocked cold by a bus JUST at the moment some kind of magnetic storm has wiped out all power on earth. Fast as you can say The Day The Earth Stood Still, all collective memory (and physical evidence) of The Beatles is gone -- save for Jack.
Armed with their catalog of great songs, Jack takes advantage and begins to pass them off as his own writing. Ed Sheeren (playing a good natured version of himself) happens to be listening and gives him his first big break. Ed's manager Debra (Kate McKinnon) signs him on the spot and his career skyrockets.
Director Danny Boyle adds a few touches, but, he mostly just lets the actors and, most of all, the Beatles' tunes do the persuading. The light fantasy is pleasant enough, even if the script gets a bit baggy (one of Curtis' negative tendencies). YESTERDAY never really digs down to expand much on what the impact and meaning of such an occurrence would mean*. Patel and James are charming together, and most of the cast follows along (McKinnon starts off amusing, but, becomes a one-note caricature pretty quickly). The arc of the story is pretty predictable, save for a last act diversion which is pretty questionable. Some have found it a bittersweet comfort, but, it made me feel a bit squeamish. I get why the scene is there (and, it's plot "logic"), but it's squeaky wheel in an otherwise purely pleasurable ride. Curtis also tosses in a few oddball power outage 'aftereffects' in the margins that are quite amusing in their specificity, while remaining affectionately offbeat.
YESTERDAY isn't for those who take things too literally. Curtis is just doodling a Silly Love Song -- You either get on the Magical Mystery Tour or you may as well Hide Yourself Away.
* Two things the movie ignores:
1. Even armed with the lyrics, that doesn't mean the finished music would recapture The Beatles magic. The quartet also played the instruments, and, with George Martin, created a unique sound. You can't just throw a newbie in a recording studio with a backing band and out comes Sgt. Pepper.
2. In this streaming, download, and uncentralized music landscape, would even The Beatles be "The Beatles!!" today if they were just arriving on the scene? Sure, they had the chops, but, would they be able to break through in this increasingly fractured and narrow-casted society? They might be Cold Play big, but, "The Beatles!!" big.....?