More misses than hits in Boyle and Curtis' sluggish ode to The Beatles

Rating: 5/10 (6 July 2019)

There's no movie premise more fun than the 'what if' question; void of the wonderings of why and the logistics of a situation we are simply allowed to accept it and enjoy the fantasy that follows. Here, Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis approach a weighty 'what if' question to terrify all music aficionados... what if the Beatles never existed? Or, more suitably, what if only one man (luck would have it a down-on-his-luck singer-songwriter) remembered their classic tunes? In Yesterday, that man is Jack Malik (Himesh Patel in his big-screen debut), who is conveniently hit by a bus simultaneously as a split-second power outage hits the globe. Jack awakens in this all but identical parallel dimension; except no one has heard of John, Paul, George or Ringo. It's not long before our protagonist starts to realise that this isn't a curse but rather a blessing as he starts to gain huge success by painstakingly recreating the band's songs and claiming them as his own to the unknowing world.
The concept of Yesterday is an intriguing one, if a little familiar. What would perhaps be most exciting about the film however is that it sees two tour de forces of British cinema, Boyle and Curtis, working together for the first time. In Yesterday, it feels as if Boyle's contribution seems slightly smothered in the tone and style of the latter; this feels very much like a Richard Curtis affair and unfortunately not an entirely brilliant one. In the first third of the film, the pace breezes nicely along; we are introduced to Jack and his hum-drum life, including his curious relationship with manager Ellie (the endlessly charismatic Lily James). There's some classic Curtis writing here; joshing banter, wry humour and a good level of heart. A notably great scene comes from comedy powerhouses Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Sayal as Jack's parents, one of many early moments that makes what is to follow look promising.
It is a huge shame, therefore, that Yesterday slides off the rails, leaving behind its interesting premise to settle as a forgettable and frankly quite dull romcom that feels like lesser work from both Boyle and Curtis. There's one particular sequence where the film makes a horrifically misjudged turn and, from then on, meanders and warbles to a barely conclusive and unsatisfying ending. Himesh Patel leads the cast as Jack and one can't fault his utter commitment to what I'm sure will be a career-boosting role. However, despite this, Jack is a fundamentally unlikeable character; throughout the film he lumbers and sulks his way from screen-to-screen to the point that one wonders why we care about him in the first place. The same is true of the rest of the cast; Kate McKinnon does her best as a one-dimensional corporate music manager whose comedic novelty swiftly wears off and even James, who charmed the roof off in last year's Mamma Mia sequel, is given very little to work with. I hate to say that the real problem here seems to lie in Curtis' writing; whilst there are a few funny moments and characters (Joel Fry is superb as the hapless Rocky echoing Rhys Ifans in a better Curtis outing Notting Hill), largely there's very little to Yesterday that gives in any sort of kick. The 'what if' scenario that actually could be interesting seems always to be playing second place to Patel and James' bland love story, a 120-min will-they-won't-they... despite the fact we know they will. After the first third, there are occasional beads of hilarity and heart but these are largely lost within a sea of banal aimlessness that feels like borderline laziness on behalf of its creators who we know can do so much more. Equally, there are other aspects of Yesterday that don't play in its favour; the jukebox soundtrack is limited and underplayed, the editing choices are bizarre and the graphic effects tragically tacky.
That is not to say that Yesterday doesn't have its moments; Patel's rendition of the titular hit early on is an empathetically portrayed sequence and a scene featuring a leading Beatle is beautifully poignant. Plus there are some brilliant supporting performances from the likes of Bhaskar, Sayal and Fry. In fact, it is these faint glimmers of what Yesterday could have been that make the end result even more disappointing. In the end, the clever premise is left behind in favour of a cliched, muddled and overlong summer romcom that won't go down in history like the Beatles any time soon.