cool premise

Rating: 7/10 (15 November 2019)

Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a struggling singer-songwriter in Suffolk, England. He is a "complete failure". His only fans seems to be his friends especially his lifelong best friend Ellie Appleton (Lily James). She has an unrequited love for him. One night, the lights go out and he gets hit by a bus. He wakes up to discover that The Beatles never existed. There are other surprising changes like the lost of Coke and Wonderwall. Jack tries to remake the Beatles songs with mixed results until he is contacted by Ed Sheeran who wants him as his opening act. Debra Hammer (Kate McKinnon) is Ed's money-grubbing Hollywood producer.
I love this premise which has the positive effect of including some great music. The general plot is fine although I would change some of the details. The filmmaker already made a few changes. In a delete scene, he actually sleeps with the Russian woman. In the movie, I treated his admission to Ellie as a joke. It's a good change. Their romance has to be kept pure which is why her dating Gavin is a little problematic. It's a false note that the movie is forced to correct with that big gesture. It's a terrible gesture. Putting an unsuspecting woman on a jumble screen is putting all the pressure on her and it's a bad way to break up a relationship. Jack and Ellie are fine but I would redo almost their entire love story. First off, Lily James is too beautiful. When a woman like her say things like that to any man, that man needs to stop and address it right away. He should close the door, block it with a chair, and have a sit down talk with her. It's actually a great moment to reveal The Beatles to her. The secret was definitely eating away at him and he has only one person to whom he would tell. For drama's sake, it's possible that she would get angry at him stealing music from some unknown band and she would walk out on him. That would make the final giveaway of the music that much more powerful as a gesture and it would make their reunion much more compelling.
As for the moments I love, I love Ellie's talk with him after the hotel cancellation. I love, love, love John Lennon. I love him so much that I want the movie to close with Jack bringing Ellie to meet him. Patel's sad sack performance is initially frustrating but he does grow on me as long as he doesn't lose his teeth. Ed Sheeran is pretty good at being Ed Sheeran. In general, the plot is fine but it could be so much better. I love the two Beatles fans and I really love their twist. In those two characters, there is the theme of the movie that Jack needs to hit much harder. They want to bring the music to the world and that is Jack's salvation. Those two could help him finish Eleanor Rigby. The film could have hit that point even harder than it already does. This movie has a cool premise. It's good. It could even be better.