YESTERDAY (2019) FILM REVIEW

**

12A, 113 Mins

Beatles-free rom-com isn't as quirky as it should be...

Imagine there's no Beatles...I know I couldn't even if I tried! That's exactly what 'Yesterday' (2019) asks us to imagine, but somehow is never as strange as we, well, imagined. There's an inevitable title fight at the heart of this film between the punky, kinetic energy of Director Danny Boyle and the sedate, summery Home counties warmth of Screenwriter Richard Curtis.

The former's quirky edge certainly shines through in the first act which features struggling, Beatles-obsessed singer-songwriter Jack Malik (newcomer Himesh Patel) waking up to the notion that no one, but him can recall the Fab Four's existence. This leads to more than one funny fish-out of-water scene of him riffing George Harrison's strings on his guitar to baffled best mates along with coming to terms with a world without cigarettes and Coca Cola (certainly for the better) too.

Unfortunately, any of Boyle's auteurist flourish is swiftly drowned out by Curtis's predeliction towards soppy rom-com cliches with which 'Yesterday' hits the highest notes for predictability. As Jack becomes a fraudelent global superstar by stealing credit for the band's greatest hits , there's plenty of tracks groaning on the jukebox from 'Eleanor Rigby' to 'Help!' to 'Let it Be', but nothing in the way of reference to how this alternate universe is any different without Abbey Road's best bunch. No 'Withnail & I'? No 'Life of Brian'? No Charles Manson? I yearned for at least a little commentary on the surreality that the film's highly intriguing paralell world premise sets up.

Instead its more concerned with watching Himesh Patel and Lily James bond like puppies. This wouldn't usually be an issue as Curtis is, after all, the King of British match.com dating, but 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' (1995), 'Notting Hill' (1999) and 'Bridgets Jones Diary' (2001) weren't bogged down by timey-wimey Sci-Fi concepts.

A late-in the-game cameo from Ed Sheeran - rivalling his 'Game of Thrones' bit part for cringe - reaffirms how plodding and pedestrian this seemingly unique little film turns out to be. Much like his music - plodding and pedestrian.