WHAT’S IT ABOUT
Jack Malik is a struggling singer-songwriter in an English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie. After a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed. Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them, Jack becomes an overnight sensation with a little help from his agent.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman, and now Yesterday. It’s not another biopic, but it does focus on one group – The Beatles. To be fair, this movie has more in common with Isn’t It Romantic or What Men Want since it is, in fact, a romantic comedy with a new twist. Our main character does get knocked out, but he doesn’t wake up in a rated PG rom-com or have the ability to read minds. The struggling artist Jack Malik awakens to a world without The Beatles. So what would the music world be like if John, George, Paul, and Ringo never became The Beatles? For me, in 2019, I’m not sure if I would miss their fast and mainly dated stuff, but the ballads are timeless. In Yesterday, after a global blackout and an accident with a bus, Jack (Himesh Patel) becomes the only person that remembers the Beatles and after realizing this, uses their songs to boost his failed career. Like most of us, he only knew the chorus of a few Beatles songs. As the film progresses, he would either remember or simply make up lyrics to complete some songs. A few essential songs were forgotten in the beginning, but with carefully placed plot dialog, he was able to work it out. His manager Ellie, along with his family and friends, can’t believe how great his “new” songs are and wondered why Jack never sang them before. His response was “I just wrote it” after everything he sang. While Jack struggled with trying to remember the lyrics of the Beatles songs, he gets the attention of a producer. This led to a local CD release that gained the attention of Ed Sheeran, which in turn, got Jack a huge record deal. At this point in the film, the romantic comedy part becomes a bit more obvious. The music of The Beatles becomes secondary and is treated as white noise while the rest of the film plays out like any other rom-com ever made. Jack is a likable character, but if he’s not singing, he’s a very dull person to watch. He was funnier in the first half of the movie because it was mainly about him trying to remember lyrics although he might have screwed up a few songs in the process. Once he was a part of “The Industry,” the people around him became the comic relief. Jack just continued to display his forever confused facial expressions until the end of the movie. In the end, if you take away the music, Yesterday is an average mostly predictable rom-com with a strange twist.
OUR RATING – NOT HALF THE MOVIE IT SHOULD BE 6.5
Media
- Genre – Romantic Comedy
- Street date
- Digital – September 10th 2019
- DVD/Blu-Ray – September 24th 2019
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2:39.1
- Sound – English Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish and French Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
- Subtitles – English SDH, Spanish, French
Extras
- Alternate Opening/Ending
- Deleted Scenes
- Gag Reel
- Live at Abbey Road Studios – Watch Himesh Patel perform “Yesterday”, “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, and “Let it Be” at Abbey Road Studios.
- Ed Sheeran: From Stadium to Screen* – Acting in his first major role, Ed Sheeran reflects on his experiences making the movie.
- Agent of Comedy: Kate McKinnon* – Kate McKinnon shares how eager she was to play the role of “Debra Hammer” while the cast and crew reflect on the fun and energy that the queen of improvisational comedy brought to the set.
- A Talented Duo* – Richard Curtis and Danny Boyle, two of the most successful British filmmakers, team up for the first time.
- Playing for Real* – The re-interpreting of the Beatles songs was a huge undertaking for newcomer Himesh Patel. Learn how he spent months learning to play the songs perfectly as the production decided to take the more challenging route of recording the musical numbers live on set.
- Soul Mates* – Beyond the music and the laughs, the film is, of course, a love story. This piece looks at the relationship between Jack & Ellie and the actors playing them.
- A Conversation with Richard & Ed* – Long-term friends Richard Curtis and Ed Sheeran have a funny and informal chat about the making of YESTERDAY.
- *DVD format includes over 35 minutes of bonus content