Yesterday is a film about a man who wakes up and finds that nobody remembers The Beatles. Jack Malik, played by Himesh Patel, is a struggling singer-songwriter who survives a worldwide blackout and discovers that the band never existed. The premise is clever. The execution is not.
The movie wants to be a musical comedy, a tribute to a beloved group, and a story about finding your place in the world. It succeeds at none of those things entirely. What it delivers instead is a pleasant, forgettable ride that leans heavily on nostalgia and a thin character arc.
Trailer, via Universal Pictures UK.
Jack Malik and the Blackout
Jack Malik is a small-time musician in Manchester. He plays gigs, he writes songs, and he dreams of making it big. The film opens with him performing a cover of a Beatles song at a local pub. He sings “Don’t Look Back In Anger” by Oasis instead, and the crowd loves it.
Then comes the blackout. Everyone falls unconscious, and when Jack wakes up, he discovers that The Beatles never happened. Their music doesn’t exist. Their names are unrecognizable. Jack realizes that the guitar he bought from a thrift store contains a fragment of the Beatles’ catalog encoded in its wood. He can play the songs perfectly, note for note.
The setup is brilliant. The problem is that the film spends too much time explaining it and not enough time letting it breathe.
The Songs and the Sell
Jack starts playing Beatles covers in public. People stop and listen. His version of “Hey Jude” becomes a hit. The film shows Jack performing the songs live, and the performances are energetic. The music is the strongest element of the film.
But the movie treats the songs as a magic trick. Jack can play them because he heard them in his head during the blackout. That’s fine as a conceit. It’s less fine when the film insists that this is the only explanation for why he can play them. The film never explores what the music means to him beyond the mechanical fact that he remembers it.
The songs themselves are presented as pure genius. They’re not. They’re pop songs. Good pop songs, but pop songs. The film doesn’t treat them as cultural artifacts so much as it treats them as proof of Jack’s specialness. This flattens the material. The Beatles were a band that changed music because they were innovative, not because they were magical.
Ed Sheeran’s Role
Ed Sheeran plays the role of a record producer named Del. Del hears Jack perform and decides to manage him. He helps Jack craft his image and his career. The relationship is supposed to be mentorship. It reads more like exploitation.
Del is a shrewd businessman. He sees the value in Jack’s talent and wants to cash in. The film doesn’t make this clear. Instead, it presents Del as a friend who is helping Jack achieve his dreams. This is a missed opportunity. The film could have used Del to explore the dark side of fame. It doesn’t.
Sheeran’s performance is competent. He plays Del with a cheerful intensity. The chemistry between him and Patel is there. But the script doesn’t give him much to work with. Del is a walking plot device, not a character.
Lily James and the Romance
Lily James plays Penny, Jack’s girlfriend. She runs a café where Jack performs. She knows about the blackout and believes Jack’s story. She’s the emotional center of the film. The romance between Jack and Penny is meant to ground the story in human connection.
It doesn’t work. The film spends so much time on Jack’s career that the relationship feels like a sideline. Penny is supportive, but she’s also passive. She watches Jack become famous and doesn’t seem to have her own life. This is a structural problem. The film is about Jack’s journey, but it’s told through his eyes only.
James is good. She brings warmth to the role. But the script doesn’t give her much to do. Her scenes are often about listening to Jack talk about himself. That’s not a performance, it’s a function.
The World Without the Beatles
The film’s central idea is that the world is better off with The Beatles. Without them, people are less creative, less joyful, less connected. This is the film’s thesis. It’s also the weakest part of the movie.
The film shows a world where people don’t know the songs. They don’t know the lyrics. They don’t know the history. The film implies that this is sad. It’s not. The Beatles were a great band. But the world didn’t end when they stopped making music. People found other songs. They found other artists. They kept living.
The film doesn’t acknowledge this. It assumes that the Beatles were irreplaceable. That assumption is the film’s fatal flaw. It turns the Beatles into a god, which is disrespectful to the actual band.
The Ending and the Twist
The film’s ending is a twist. Jack learns that the songs he plays are not his own. They belong to everyone. The film suggests that the music was always there, waiting to be discovered. This is a nice sentiment. It’s also a cop-out.
The twist removes Jack’s agency. It makes his success not about his talent but about his luck. The film has spent two hours building Jack up as a special person. Then it takes away that specialness. The result is a hollow victory. Jack wins, but the win means nothing.
The twist also raises a question the film never answers. If the songs were always there, why did Jack get them? Why not someone else? The film doesn’t say. It just leaves the question hanging.
The Music and the Performances
The music is the best part of the film. The performances are solid. Patel carries the film with a likable charm. Sheeran is fine in a supporting role. James is warm. The cast is good. The film is not.
The film is directed by Danny Boyle, who has made some excellent movies. This is not one of them. The direction is competent. It’s not inspired. The film moves at a steady pace. It never drags. But it never lifts either.
The film’s visual style is bright. It’s colorful. It’s clean. It’s also generic. The film looks like a commercial. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it’s not a compliment either.
The Nostalgia Trap
The film is clearly designed to appeal to people who love The Beatles. It’s a love letter to the band. It’s also a trap. The film assumes that everyone who sees it will share its reverence. That’s not true. Some people don’t care about The Beatles. Some people think they overrated. The film doesn’t respect that.
The film also assumes that the Beatles’ music is timeless. It’s not. The Beatles were a product of their time. Their music reflected that time. The film doesn’t engage with that. It just presents the songs as universal truths. That’s a shallow reading of the band.
“We’re not trying to remake The Beatles, we’re trying to make a film about a guy who can sing.”
That’s a fair statement. The film doesn’t live up to it.
The Verdict
Yesterday is a film with a great idea and a weak execution. It’s watchable. It’s enjoyable. It’s not memorable. The songs are the reason to see it. The story is the reason to forget it.
The film is a reminder that nostalgia is a tool, not a destination. It’s fine to love The Beatles. It’s fine to want to hear their music. But it’s not fine to pretend that their absence would have destroyed the world. The world would have been fine.
The film is a polite, pleasant experience. It’s not a great one. It’s a film that will be forgotten quickly. That’s a shame, because the premise deserved better.
- The premise is clever.
- The songs are performed well.
- The performances are solid.
- The direction is competent.
- The ending is a letdown.
- The world-building is thin.
- The character development is weak.
- The overall effect is forgettable.
The film is a middling entry in a genre that has produced far better work. It’s not a waste of time. It’s not a masterpiece. It’s a film that will be remembered as a footnote.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
