Do not call this a "Beatles Movie", it's not even close.

Rating: 3/10 (19 July 2019)

"Yesterday" is a British "rom-com" musical movie centered around a struggling musician whom, after an accident, finds himself the only person who remembers the Beatles. He then becomes famous by taking credit for writing and performing their songs.
I saw the trailer for this awhile back and it peaked my interest. Apparently these past few years have sparked interest in reminiscing over musical geniuses of the past and present. We got a film surrounding Freddie Mercury and Queen (pass), a musical fantasy about the outlandishly amazing Elton John (big win) and this one which capitalizes on the famous British band The Beatles (super meh). It's an interesting concept, but in theory it could've been surrounding any famous band/artist and it wouldn't of made a difference. However, I am a fan of The Beatles so I was fine with this choice. Also I believe they are trying to replicate the "Beatlemania" craziness in modern day.
I can say I'm glad this film wasn't another "Across The Universe" where they incorporate the songs into the plot, it's already been done in that film and arguably yes the visuals in that movie are stunning at moments but the songs being covered were poorly done. We finally FINALLY got a movie this year (again big win) that incorporated a famous musicians songs into plot pretty flawlessly, so it would've been a disaster trying to do that in this one as well. In this instead we get a simple tale of a struggling artist becoming burnt out by playing small festivals and not progressing how he'd like.
Right off the bat I couldn't stop asking myself, did this movie even establish The Beatles as a band before their existence was just wiped randomly? Because of a power outage/bike accident. I don't think it was ever established which bugged me, but I pushed that aside and kept watching. I wanted a discussion about artistic integrity, making us as an audience debate on whether or not we would take advantage of the situation as well like our main character (whose name I can't even remember honestly). But I was giving this film too much credit apparently! No we just get a cliche romance flick that drags the story along because it's not very interesting.
We literally have this girl asking him to dump his dream for her and go back home. I hate this specific plot point so much! Also that Benedict Cumberbatch comment was personally offending to me! Okay but jokes aside, Ed Sheeran was in this. First of all, he would not just contact some random singer with zero notoriety at that point. The movie should've had him gain more recognition at least before this happens because it was unbelievable. Also Kate Mckinnon is way too much herself in this movie as the "manager", like come on.
There's a recurring theme of interruption in this for whatever reason and it irritated me to no end. The camerawork was pretty average, it could've pushed so much more wonder and made it visually impactful. Coming off the backburner of "Rocketman" which was visually stunning and even having seen "Across The Universe" which had all of its positive praise coming from me about the visuals, it was so lazy. Many say comparing film isn't "fair" but I disagree. It pushes directors to do better and take inspiration/advice from those who succeeded greater than them.
Something positive I can say is that they at least briefly touched upon the cultural/time period conflict which I liked. For example; Jude is an older name (though the joke they use is stupid) and could "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" be made successfully today? It's very psychedelic and drug influenced music. This is discussed during the table meeting, though I doubt singers discuss albums on a very large "Game Of Thrones" style table while they tear it apart. Maybe I'm wrong, but it felt unrealistic.
So amongst all of the poorly written drama, forgettable romance and random fluff we randomly get these 2 people who remember The Beatles songs? I mean...I don't need an in-depth explanation of it, there is a suspension of belief but it comes out of seemingly nowhere. Apparently, the actual Beatles band members exist still too!? I kid you not John Lennon is alive and well because of this weird parallel universe were in. I honestly would've rather them not exist at all within the film. I also need someone to explain to me why coke, cigarettes, Oasis/"Wonderwall" and Harry Potter are gone too? Like what the hell!?
Random thought. I don't know why Ed Sheeran having his own song as his ringtone was what made me laugh the hardest during this entire film (which says a lot). Also the idea of Ed Sheeran having an actual concert and inviting some random dude on stage as his intro act for this movie, I couldn't contain myself! Back to business though, the ending of this sucks dude. Apparently everyone is alright that our main character admitted he never wrote a single lyric in his life. That is was all stolen basically. WHAT!? I hate movies that overlook interesting topics, but I also hate movies that sugarcoat everything at the end and tie a ribbon around it. There's a montage too at the end, yes just give up your dreams for romance. What a let down man, this one had so much potential too but we get a film that makes little sense and slaps us in the face with overdone romance cliche.