A love story first and foremost

Rating: 7/10 (28 June 2019)

Music based films are all the rage at the moment. 'Bohemian Rhapsody' did astoundingly well both with audiences and award ceremonies, 'Rocketman' seems to be a hit and now we have 'Yesterday'. 'Yesterday' is a little bit different in the sense that it is a fictional story which utilises the music of an extremely popular band from the 60s rather than just straight up telling their story. In fact this is one of the best ideas for a movie I can remember. The whole world forgets about The Beatles except for one person. The possibilities that lends itself to are endless.
I didn't actually realise until after seeing the movie that there was only a select few (20 I believe) songs that they had rights to. That possibly explains a little why the film often feels more about the love story at its centre than the music itself. The love story was actually very well written (both characters were extremely likeable) but I did often think I would like to be hearing a little more music. Too often songs were cut short or were chopped around a joke relating to interrupting the song.
The biggest flaw in this movie for me was the humour. Far too often jokes fell flat. The character of 'Rocky' was clearly designed as the comic relief, and the character was perfect, but the jokes written for him were not up to standard. It felt like they were trying far too hard. An obvious joke is never as funny as a subtle one. Ed Sheeran's involvement with the film was a master stroke though. They didn't over-use him and when he was on screen it was fascinating to watch. I had a good time with 'Yesterday' no doubt about it. I can't help wondering though if things were done a little differently whether this could have been a masterpiece.