An overly exhaustive review of ‘Yesterday’

Man, watching this after two year makes me kinda cringe! I stand behind the fact that this movie was a wasted opportunity and not good but my nit-picks are a little extreme.
I set this up like it was going to be a proper vide essay and end up doing a lazy, middling roast of every scene. Very CinemaSins which is not what I’d go for these days.
If this is your introduction to my channel, just know that I make better stuff now!

I saw the John Lennon scene online and made a mental note to watch the whole movie. After watching your video I'm glad I never got around to it.

I find your critique of the movie over all sounding like you wish you had thought of this concept for a script , so instead you bash it. While it could have been much better in the capable hands of someone with great vision like Zemeckis , I thought it original, and the love element , while old fashioned to some, all we is love . Cheers from a baby boomer from the original Beatles generation ....

This was a great nostalgic movie , many young people today do not know who the Beatles are. This is an interesting movie, especially meeting an older John Lennon, and then talked about nothing about music or the memory loss. Why didn't he visit George or Ringo or Paul? I wouldn't have cast this guy to sing all these songs, his voice is average . John's voice was a cut above the rest, Each member were so great and added so much to each song that this guy could not. Your idea that leaving out more success would make the movie a tribute to the Beatles. Compared to the Beatles he was mediocre , average. They were the biggest rock stars that ever existed and are still the best band and top seller 53 years after they split up. To equal their success they would need a top drummer, a top guitarist and a top singer and a top rated bass player. You got what you asked for but didn't realize it.

This movie had me so pumped as a huge Beatles fan, but what a letdown.... And the Lennon scene seemed unnecessary

Even simpler fix to the “She was just 17 line.”

“Now we were just 17, you know what I mean.”

Like it’s that easy.

What a silly idea for a movie. I mean, the idea of a world where the Beatles never existed is fascinating. We wouldn’t even recognize it. “Yesterday” is just trying to pander to a modern audience, not Beatles fan. The fact that in this movie, the world is basically exactly the same without the Beatles. That’s offensive to the Beatles legacy. A world without the Beatles would be like a world without color. The main character is kinda boring too, nothing like the actual Beatles. Also, the fact that this failed musician took the opportunity to steal these songs makes him very unlikable. The fact that his only redemption is admitting he stole the songs and it doesn’t ruin his life, he does get the girl in the end, is one of the most unsatisfying endings I’ve ever seen. All of the Ed Sheeran stuff in the movie feels so lame and cringe. In the society we live in nowadays, if a band like the Beatles came out nowadays and wrote the EXACT same songs that the Beatles wrote, NOBODY WOULD CARE. The Beatles happened because they did what they did in the time that they did. Not saying the songs are outdated, the Beatles are PEAK music but they don’t match the style of 2023. The most cringe thing in this whole movie are all the references to modern 2023 culture. The other most cringe thing is that the versions of the songs in this movie are atrocious. The soundtrack just isn’t good. This whole movie just makes me cringe. I’ll admit though, the John Lennon scene is pretty fascinating though. Especially that in this universe, John Lennon never died. Also you’re right, the lead actor for Jack wasn’t enthusiastic enough in that scene. The movie’s whole aesthetic is just so coldly removed from the aesthetic and the vibe that the Beatles had. It feels like fake, vapid, Hollywood garbage and it doesn’t feel like it was made by anyone who is just a casual fan and not a real big fan of the Beatles.

I really hated how this movie turned out to be. I wanted to see some kind of music movie, but instead got treated to a romcom: one that I watched ALONE AND BY MYSELF as I was the only one in the entire theater. Forgettable is the right word for it: the John Lennon-scene is the only redeemable thing, but that was really merely placed in for emotional effect. The fact they used stuff from a dream sequence as actual content for in the trailer, shows how much of a cashgrab it truly was. Ugh.

I couldn’t agree with you more and argued with friends who loved this ridiculous and stupid movie.

As someone with friends who don’t appreciate the greatness of the Beatles, I wanted to use this movie as an example for why they are as good as advertised. Unfortunately this movie failed to do that, and if anything it reinforced their opinion that the beatles weren’t as good as everyone says they are. Had I written the movie my own way, the main character would have failed to achieve the level of success he had envisioned at first but eventually after perseverance the fame would come and the thought of becoming famous off of stolen work would eat him alive. Think of the Ricky Gervais movie, the invention of lying, the more you use something like that to your advantage the more guilty you would feel.

I wanted to like this movie when I saw the trailer for it. It’s a shame they couldn’t make something good happen with this premise, I thought it could’ve worked if they actually tried to make it make sense a little more.

Every scene was great at the time, eapecially the big numbers and the reveals. I guess in retro I go a little hot n cold. Should I google it? Life is short. Yada yada..yowza yowza (Gig Young (😊1967?)..

The funniest thing about watching this years later is realizing that the 'Well, it's not Coldplay' girl is Sylvie form Loki, and Jack's mom is Verin Sedai from Wheel of Time...

Anyway, I had some similar thoughts - it was a cute/fun movie and I enjoyed all the performances, but the love story aspect didn't work for me at all (agreed that we never really see WHAT she sees in Jack, but also, why is she giving him a crappy ultimatum RIGHT THEN???? I guess her dream was that he would fall in love with her but still be all downtrodden and put upon, maybe because then she can be the one who takes care of him? Which is kind of weird and toxic when you think about it...).

And regarding the Beatles - while some of the sci-fi aspects were fun to think about I agree that really the world didn't seem that different at all. If bands like Coldplay and Radiohead exist (and presumably have the same sound) I agree that nothing about Jack's songs are going to sound that new. Ironically, even while watching the movie and Jack's performances of the songs, to me that kept sticking out was 'this is actually telling me how important the Beatles (as people) actually were' because I wasn't really that enamored with some of his versions. So in a way I definitely would have found the original concept much more intriguing and believable. It's not JUST the songs (as good as they are).

So much I agree with you about concerning this movie. Also agree with your own self criticism about being so nit - picky and negative, but don't be too hard on yourself, your albeit long list of nit-picks all are worthy nit-picks. But, despite its faults, I still like this movie for 3 main reasons. #1: John lives! One of the few issues my partner in life and I disagree about is John. She cannot bring herself to like him because of the awful things he did to Cynthia and Julian. I say had he lived, I sincerely believed he would've redeemed himself on all this. She says he didn't live and didn't redeem himself. True enough. But here we see him - an older guy (just like so many of us) - justifiably proud of his life and accomplishments. It's like a great wrong being righted. #2: I think the movie fantasizes that if the Beatles and their music didn't exist in our world, the universe would find a way to correct that. That would be Jack. The Beatles are too important to our world to be missing. #3: It reminds us to appreciate the things around us that may have become commonplace and we therefore, take them for granted. I know I'm guilty. In the contest scene Jack writes "The Long and Winding Road", and Ed goes gaga over it. The next time I heard that amazingly beautiful song, I thought about Ed (in the movie) hearing it for the first time and tried to listen to it with those ears. After that, I've tried to always listen to their music with "first time ears". (I highly recommend it). I think this movie reminds us that no one should ever take the Beatles, or all the people, or all the other beautiful things in our lives for granted. First time I've found one of your "vide essays" and I did read your self critique. After reading that, I liked and subscribed and I'll take you up on your invitation to watch more! Thank you for this!

Can we not just enjoy something without tearing it down and criticizing every detail. Like lets not enjoy desserts because they can be so unhealthy and cause health problems if consumed too much. Actually really enjoyed the movie.

I had many of the same thoughts that you did, this movie could have and maybe should have neen so much more than it was. There were a lot of annoying nonsensical bits that made you wonder just what this movie was supposed to be about. But, ultimately, I enjoyed it any way! Simply enjoyed it as a ( very lightweight) light-hearted romp.

Artistcreateandcriticsjustwhineabouteverything

meh - appreciate the POV, but this review is basically down to "they didn't write a movie about what I wanted it to be about" and nitpicking the silliest of things

also worth mentioning - the surviving Beatles liked it, as well as George's widow (Ringo said "I loved it" as a matter of fact) 🤷🏻‍♂

I actually liked the movie quite a lot. But maybe, I got something out of it that you could not due to the difference in our ages. I cannot say for certain what the original writer had in mind as the driving message of the movie. But, given the age of Jack Barth and Richard Curtis and the one Beatles song used as the title, "Yesterday," it seems to me that this movie is not about the Beatles, per se, it is about the generation they represent - baby boomers, and the fact that we are getting old. I am about 1.5 years older than Curtis; I was born right in the center of the BB generation. While it is true that none of the Beatles were baby Boomers, they embodied that generation more than any other group of the 60's.

Their talent is undeniable, and the more I learn of their music, the more I am impressed with their creative prowess. But I do not think the movie was so much about what the world would be like without Beatles music, but what life is like for us baby-boomers as we enter old age. Consider how this movie looked to us baby-boomers:

For us Americans, the Beatles arrived about 3 months after the national tragedy of Kennedy's assassination. (I was in the third grade.) The Beatles brought fun back to USA - sort of snapped us out of our collective shock. And throughout the 60's, bands came and went, but the Beatles were steady. To a great degree, they were above it all - all the hyped-up-but-soon-gone fame of the Dick Clark set.

Then, in the spring of 1970, the Beatles officially broke up. It was over. But we could always hope for a reunion. The band no longer existed, but all the players were present. They could get together for a reunion album.

Then 1980 happened. John Lennon was shot and killed. It was such a senseless thing, as senseless as Kennedy's assassination, an event no one could have seen coming. And that was the real end of the baby-boomers "childhood." At that point, the generation was from 16-34 years old, and "our" band could not be reunited. I was 25.The event did not affect me much. I was too busy trying to make a living for a young family. But that us, to a great degree, the very point of the movie. My childhood was over. At that point in life, you are having to give up a great deal of your youthful idealism as you face the immovable realities of life. We baby-boomers were idealistic if we were nothing else! Symbolically, our youth and idealism were irrecoverably destroyed with the death of John Lennon.

The fact that it is John Lennon who appears at the end of the movie is very telling. After all, if the movie were simply about what the world would be like if the Beatles, as a band, never existed, the movie could have had ANY of the Beatles show up at the end. But it had to be Lennon, for it was HIS death that made a permanent end of the group.

We baby-boomers are coming up on the end of our lives. Our youthful vigor is gone. Our naive, youthful idealism has not produced the world we thought it would. In fact, as a generation, we have become pretty much the very things we so loudly denounced. Our demographic has slipped from supremely important, to useful, to almost irrelevant. The commercials aimed at us are for Depends, diabetes, and reverse mortgages. We were the first generation to be allowed to think we mattered while we were still in our teens and had not accomplished anything. We no longer matter. So, right now, we baby-boomers live in a world where, symbolically, the Beatles never existed. Our youth and all its dreams are gone.

Then the door opens. John Lennon is alive! And for a few minutes, I was 14 or 15, listening to "Get Back," and "Let It Be." For a little while, it was "Yesterday." The world was good, and life was fun.

And the message of the movie? Sure, the Beatles, as a band, do not exist and cannot be reconstituted. But (according to the movie) those who made up the band do exist. And just as the protagonist could (re)connect with the non-Beatle John, we baby-boomers can reconnect with our younger selves. And we baby-boomers who "remember" the Beatles can sing the songs, and, even in our old age, the world can be good, and life can be fun.

In a fictional movie, the story line is simply the vehicle that carries the cargo of the message. In the case of this movie, maybe the vehicle was poorly designed, but the cargo was wonderful - at least for me.

Another premise: what would today's music industry do with The Beatles today? What would a Beatles record sound like if it got the full Max Martin treatment?

Come to think of it, that would still work. Hold on, gotta open my DAW ...

The problem isn't that it wasn't Woke enough, the problem was that it was too Woke. In the future, any sniff of a Woke agenda will be a complete death sentence for any form of entertainment. People have had a belly full of the bullshit and they're sick if it.

You bring up a great point. Ellie wants Jack to
Succeed until he does, then she doesn’t.

I’m convinced Jack was in an accident and the whole movie he is in a coma. This would explain why some people especially Kate M, and his parents have really weird and very cardboard like interactions. This would also explain why some things exist and some don’t because it is all depended on the post crash coma brain of Jack.

I actually wrote a story 15 or so years ago where I went back in time to Liverpool and pitched their own songs to them. In my story they hated many of them, particularly George. But they liked In My Life and others such as Nowhere Man and Here There and Everywhere. But I couldn't come to terms with how it would stifle their creativity and like Jack my better angels got the best of me and I refused their efforts to be song writers for them and left to somewhere I never quite figured out. Fun exercise for a creative writing course I took as a 40 year old. I too Yesterday for what it was and decided to just enjoy it without being to analytical.

Missed opportunity??? A movie about some nobody that seems to be the ONLY person that remembers The Beatles, somehow knows how to play EVERY song, without a single error, and becomes famous while KNOWINGLY ripping off the greatest band EVER?!? Yeah, there was no opportunity, here.

Thank you very much. Now I know I won't have to try to see this abomination.

"Coldplay, the group that sounds like if the song Hey Jude became a band."
Rolled off the couch there 🙂

Could the Stones have made it without The Beatles preceding them-maybe. Others might have as well but their discographies would have been totally different. No "Satanic Majesty's Request" for the Stones. What was rock before the Beatles? Frankie Avalon and The Beach Boys? There would be some overlap of groups/songs but a different scene would have been about in music.

OK, Great! You've laid out a movie that will likely be so bogged down in psychology and gut wrenching audience lives' continuity issues, that it will exist nowhere except as one of those fringe film student zealot "must see" lists... By keeping the incongruities to a subset of minor contributing roles, the "Disney story" magic spell isn't broken, smashed and pulverized into not just beach sand, but into such fine dust, it gets blown BACK to China's... what do you mean there's no such thing as deserts? There's no famine, overpopulation, or war in the world now? So there's no angst driving the revolutionary music of the 20th century's refugees of victorious countries' returning physically and mentally crippled, self medicating PTSD epidemics, lost in constant orgies of intoxicated celebratory clubbing and baby booming....
I KNOW! How about making a movie about Jesus never coming out, because he realized the paradox that by having the power of miracle, all mortal challenges and flaws were obsoleted, so all life stopped breathing and simply melted back into cold, quite, dark, peaceful space! I know I could happily succumb to a simultaneous clot & aneurysm watching that, knowing that it would induce just such a paradigm shift in the whole set of infinite universes, so there would no longer be any need for solutions and cures. All the saviors and victims would now be forever freed. RIP, Sally Struthers!

The true story of the Beatles -- the reality of their lives and what really happened to them and why -- is much more interesting than this film.

Debra Hammer is deliciously evil.

your films seem fun to , i like both :) ps can someone make a better version of Solaris in english to please :)

The big thing for me that the movie kind of ignores, or actually ignores entirely, is that the Beatles success was as much to do with their timing as it was with their content. It was the right time for a band like the Beatles to come out and dominate in the aftermath of the 1950s and here in America at least pop music was kind of on the rope after the Buddy Holly crash and all of that. Just dropping those songs on the modern world would have some fans, but it would not be anything close to what it was in the 1960s.

Hello, it's 2023 calling. Who's Ed Sheerin?

I think I would just rent the DVD only for the John Lennon sequence. Overall, it's an interesting concept, but it looks like - what, George? "f**in' rubbish" - oh, okay...

Yesterday is one of my favorite films.

I genuinely enjoyed this film, and am a fan of Richard Curtis's work throughout his career. If you're going to tear his work to pieces, go for Love Actually., which was painfully twee and almost vomit-inducing. The film may have been better the way it was originally intended, but it takes a silly scenario and rolls with it, if you'll excuse the Oasis reference. Look at it from the POV of someone with a bit of talent, stuck in a creative quagmire with dreams of being something better, instead of that of a world-weary hipster for a moment, and then maybe you'll see.

or Julian playing his had would have been cool for the scene

Mate, stick to documentaries. I found the movie entertaining. So, there. So much whining... about nothing.

This, I think , was just a fun movie. C’mon just enjoy it!

Relax my man

fucking mangina!

It was a great feel good movie. Get a life …🤷🏻‍♂️

I think it was Rod Sterling who said the best alternate universe stories have just one different thing. Mirrors work oddly or pants fall up. That sort of thing.

Ever hear of suspension of disbelief?

When I first saw the trailer for this film, it filled me with a special kind of awful. I wasn't sure why, but it seemed fundamentally ill-advised. But I haven't seen the film or heard anyone else voice my concerns, so I'm curious if anyone else was troubled by this:

You'd think a film that acknowledges the timelessness of the Beatles would be a great idea. And yet the way its presented here, there's something almost cheap about suggesting that we, the fans, would go as crazy for these songs without knowing the band who deliberately wrote them with an audience in mind.

The song "Sgt Pepper" hits harder when you know how long these live performers had gone without live performance. "Once there was a way to get back homeward" helps us reflect with Paul on the incredible journey the band has taken us on.

It's not just context, it's the commitment the Beatles had to their audience. There is something in the way this band plays that attracts us like no other group, something in their style that shows us they're tuned in to what we feel and what will engage us. You cannot fake that.

But when I watched the trailer for "Yesterday" there didn't seem to be any understanding of this connection. It felt more like a rom com power fantasy masquerading as a Beatles tribute for easy feels.

But that was just my gut reaction. Did anyone feel this way watching the trailer? Is my speculation overly harsh or was it actually respectful? I'd love to know. Thanks

the missed opportunity was not using a native English Liverpudlian lad