Yesterday

Rating: 5/10 (18 July 2019)

Yesterday
2019
12A
director:Danny Boyle
Starring: Hamish Patel,Lily James,Ed Sheeran, Kate Mckinnon,Meera Syal,Harry Mitchell,Joel Fry and Sanjeev Bascar etc
overall rating 52/100
Yesterday did have its charm and toe tapping songs but did not connect with me due to many reasons lets talk about why this is.
Firstly i thought the plot clever and interesting to see. To have the world suddenly forget not just one of the most iconic bands of all time but so many different aspects to day to day life was very amusing to see. And bought out a few laughs as it was so ridiculous it just worked in places and it was something i had never seen before explored in this kind of way so this was fun.
However i do have to add that unfortunately most of the humour during the film for me fell flat which created a disconnect to the movie for me. A lot of the humour just felt very flat and old fashioned for me and it just lacked uniqueness to stand out from many more funny comedy films in todays film business. Often i felt disconnected to the film for this or was just sitting there awkwardly knowing i should be laughing but in reality i was not.
One thing that this film could not get wrong was its incredible soundtrack. All the songs despite me not listening to them outside the film i still mostly knew and the songs were elevated by Hamish Patels singing voice which made the songs even catchier to listen to. Despite Hamish Patel having some weaknesses which we will talk about in a minute i thought his singing voice really was good and fitted in well within the film.And his whole character arc of being a failing musician that nobody cared about was interesting as he found his fame from other peoples music.
However adding on from my previous paragraph unfortunately Hamish Patels acting was not particularly great and he felt out of the place during the film. This is not good considering he is the main star of this film. You could just tell during the film his lack of acting experience due to him not being able to emote or show his emotions as strongly as other actors within the film such as Lily James and Kate Mckinnon. He was just very awkward to watch and he acted like he did not know what he was going to say throughout the film so he was often standing there awkwardly.
However apart from the previous negative the film was filled with some solidly good acting performances and cameos. The main stars for me here was Lily James and Kate Mckinnon. Lily james really suited this type of role. You could really tell her pain throughout the whole film with wanting to be with Jack and when they finally got together at the end of the film it really made you root for her character she actually reminded me a bit of kate winslet which is a big compliment. And secondly Kate Mckinnon is fantastic in whatever role she is in. She just has my type of comedy and humour which makes me love whatever character she plays and Yesterday was no different. Playing the cocky and powerful manager who portrayed the brutal reality of celebrity life. Also the film had a great cameo role for Ed sheeran and he actually had a fairly big part in the film which was a pleasant surprise. However i thought the John Lennon cameo was stupid and did not make sense. To have someone who has sadly passed away to have a cameo just for shock factor is a bit of a cheap way to buy tickets.
And finally the film had excellent narrative character development between Hamish Patel and Lily jameses character. To see there relationship blossom from friends and her being his manager to potential lovers and then drifted apart really took you on a rollercoaster journey throughout the film as everyone wanted the end result to be them being together which was satisfyingly achieved at the end.
However unfortunately ending on my last two negatives, i thought the execution and thought process behind the main plot point was very odd. To have a mass blackout and the main character to just hit his head i thought was a lazy way of introducing the main plot of everyone not remembering the beatles. I liked the idea of the plot but not how it was executed as i felt it could of been done in a more creative way. And finally the film had incredibly slow pacing. If i am being honest it was very difficult to remain interested in the film due to the lack of entertainment value. It picked up whenever a song or drama was introduced but it just needed a bit more depth and interesting plot points to really keep me interested.
Overall Yesterday did have some heart a great soundtrack and some good performances. But it felt like a clever plot with poor execution and left me feeling very disappointed when leaving the cinema due to its failure to be as good as it could of been.