Mild spoilers follow!
Yesterday is the newest film from Danny Boyle, and follows the story of Jack Malik, (Himesh Patel) a struggling musician who wakes up in a world where nobody can remember The Beatles, after an unfortunate accident. Realizing the opportunity that he has in front of him, Jack begins to release songs from the forgotten band, taking full credit for them, and rises to the top of the music industry.
Yesterday is a very simple, generic film, but that’s not necessarily a criticism. Because one thing is for sure, you’ll have a great time watching it, because it’s extremely heart-warming, charming and good fun, it’s the perfect feel-good movie.
Patel delivers a great performance as Jack, he’s extremely funny to watch as he adjusts to this new world he’s found himself in, and I was extremely impressed by his vocal performance, delivering renditions of hit songs that I’m sure The Beatles would have been impressed with. Lily James is as excellent as ever as Ellie, she and Patel have excellent chemistry and it’s one of the driving forces that keep this film interesting. Joel Fry is excellent comic relief as the loveable yet useless roadie, Rocky. Even Ed Sheeran gets a glorified cameo appearance and shows off his acting chops, he certainly does a better job here and fits in better than he did in Game of Thrones, that’s for sure!
If I was going to criticize one aspect of the film, it’s that it fails to utilize the plot-point that made this film a bit more unique and intriguing, which is why Jack is the only one that can remember The Beatles, as well as some other famous people and items. It’s a humorous concept and the film does seem to hint at explaining what’s going on at times, but ultimately this plot thread comes to nothing. This was slightly disappointing for me personally, as I was looking forward to discovering what exactly was going on, but I never found out, and I never will!
But, all in all, that didn’t knock my overall enjoyment of the film too much. It’s hard to dislike Yesterday, because it’s ultimate goal is to make you feel good and make you happy, and it achieves that goal with ease. So, when you consider that, it’s hard to consider this film as anything but a success.
I give Yesterday a 7/10.
Wado Reviews 