I saw Yesterday via a film festival screening. I had been looking forward to it after seeing the trailers. Loved it! As did most of the viewers who are asked to grade the screened films as they leave the theater. And Boyle's comedy was such a relief after all the super-hero movies that have clogged theater screens for way too long (IMHO).
This review was fun, too. I noticed there are several other readers who thought so, as well.
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""Everybody else is just as hungry for those hits as everybody really was 50 years ago."
And still are!
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How did Scott pass up "the long and winding road" in paragraph 3? Now on to "Rotten Tomatoes..."
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@KS
He used "We've seen that road before".
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"It’s appealing and accessible in a way that the Beatles never really were."
I don't understand that statement at all.
Mr. Scott, were you around in the '60's? Because I was. And I guarantee you that the Beatles were highly appealing AND accessible.
So, did you accidentally put in a "never" you never meant?
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Mr. Scott writes at the end of his piece that, I"t’s appealing and accessible in a way that the Beatles never really were. Huh? The Beatles were not appealing or accessible? It is good to be a lone wolf sometimes I suppose. His comment erodes yjr credibility of his review, and for his writing in general.
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‘It’s appealing and accessible in a way that the Beatles never really were.’ Possibly the single most idiotic and ‘criticy’ sentence ever written.
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The Beatles were the greatest popular musicians not only of the 20th century. . .but of all time (considering their worldwide impact couldn't have happened in a bygone era without mass media involvement) given their 1. songwriting, 2. distinctive and indelible melodies 2. musicianship, 2. singing (including harmonies), 3. instrumentation (not only theirs. . .but with and through others they wrote for and included, 4. innovation (everyone else followed), and last but not least their prolific work over the course of only nine years. Consider the following: the Beatles didn't think a song complete unless there were at least two--but more often three--separate melodies for each song (verses, chorus, and bridge). A broad sweeping generalization. . .but distinctive melody has virtually disappeared from the miserable excuse that the world of popular music has become. No wonder this movie was made. Their greatness has lasted over 50 years and no one has touched them since!
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Last night there was there big thunderstorm that knocked the electricity out. When I woke up I realised no one had ever heard of William Shakespeare! I am typing up Romeo and Juliet as I write this. It's kind of based on a movie called West Side Story, but I think the play's the thing. I think I'm on to something great here.
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Although your review might have an effect on some other guy, I can’t imagine that there’s gonna be a time when I’m gonna change my mind about seeing this movie. I want to tell you though that I do wonder whether you worked from a database of Beatles lyrics. Bet you did, otherwise it would’ve taken you years to write.
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Seems a great many people just can’t take a dad joke. Or so, so many dad jokes.
This review does double duty as both film explication and a sly, staunch defense of corny fathers worldwide.
A.O. Scott may have just earned a hug and an eye roll from his offspring. Here here!
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AO, very annoying deployment of Beatles' lyrics in this review. 2-3 times is perhaps cute, after that very grating, especially when it doesn't deliver your point. Let's consider this a failed experiment and not do this again
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@Maria, you're right. He should instead become a paperback writer.
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A.O. Scott has been my favorite film critic for years--and this latest shows why. His tongue-in-cheek reviews are wonderful satires acknowledging that this is the film biz we are talking about not world peace. Yet at the same time, his reviews are insightful, helpful and I often find myself in agreement with this assessment once I view the films for myself. Thank you, AO Scott, for always making me laugh at the end of a long week--even if I don't see the film, I find myself forwarding your reviews to friends just for the fun of them.
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Regarding some of the comments posted here: Ok, folks, the last paragraph in the review “.....appealing and accessible.....” is a criticism of the film, not the Beatles. The reviewer is saying that everything Beatles is far deeper, richer, broader and more nuanced than this film. The review is a hoot, I loved all the quotes, and likely all reviewers of this film will have fun writing. Look, the Beatles are.....the Beatles. Nothing else comes close. I was 14 when they broke on the Sullivan show. That entire, most impressionable time of my life, high school and college, was lived with their innovation, their creativity, and their universality. Every generation has its zeitgeist, but truly great art of any age lives forever. Not sure if I will see the film, but if it beings a younger audience to the music (and I know plenty of teens already entranced by it), then I am all for it.
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AO, I love the sprinkle of Beatles quotes woven into the review! William Safire would be so proud, as I am. You have again proven that good writing can be fun.
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I have never liked the Beatles. Ever. I feel like the only person on the planet who doesn't get it.
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You are!
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@pennchick Sadly, you apparently are the only person who doesn't get it. But no worries! There're still the Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, the Beach Boys, the Turtles, and numerous other bands from the 1960s and 1970s to not get as well. Loving Spoonful, anyone?
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@pennchick Amazing. Nothing? Have you listened to Abbey Road? Rubber Soul? What about songs written by former Beatles? Instant Karma? Maybe I'm Amazed? Your response is going to haunt my day....
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While Yesterday doesn’t fall into the greatest-of-all-time category, if you’re a Beatle fan and it doesn’t turn you on at some point, you’re, like, dead. The story is pretty good (the high concept is great), the acting is good, and the music is, of course, that of a great band. The performance of the music is reasonably good, though it lacks some of the flourishes and fine points that made the Beatles so great. I recommend seeing it.
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I get the premise. There definitely is Beatles' music in this movie.
But imagine how different the world would be if there had not been any Beatles. Period. The psychology of the audience in the movie would have been other worldly. I doubt they could apprehend the Lennon-McCartney songs as played to them. The girl in the previews mentions Coldplay. But for the Beatles there would be no Coldplay.
Yes, there would have been a '60s youth movement, but it probably would not have evolved much past the beatniks. The Rolling Stones probably would have been a successful but small London blues band having niche appeal. Our attitude about eastern cultures would have been different. Show biz would have been much more orthodox and traditional. America would be even more militarized than it is now.
In toto, there would have been a lot less love.
What would the United States look like without Abraham Lincoln? That's what happens when heroes of great depth potential die prematurely.
Would Trump be president if John Lennon were alive? I doubt it.
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Was A.O. Scott even around when Beatlemania took over the world? From his review it sure doesn't seem that he was. If he wasn't I would say "You had to be there."
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I have the feeling after seeing this movie, which I definitely will see this weekend, I picture myself walking out thinking....here comes the sun.
As far as any reviews, just let it be.
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@MIMA
Let it be. I could see that coming.
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Thanks for the clever review.
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Salman Rushdie did it better in The Ground Beneath Her Feet.
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"It’s appealing and accessible in a way that the Beatles never really were." Huh? Where on earth has A.O. Scott been? Given the extraordinary durability of their popularity, has there ever been a band more appealing or accessible than the Beatles??!!
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@Menckenistic I believe he meant to praise the Beatles with that sentence. In other words, the film is a charming piece of fluff that will never attain a prominent place in the pantheon of great films.
The Beatles were the opposite because their accomplishments and legacy were so profound that they will last far into the future.
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That was an amusingly clever review. And I intend to see the movie just for the fun— and the music — of it🎵
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Strained, belabored, unfunny song lyric references damaged this review for me. Hey, Tony, try not to be funny anymore. It wears thin.
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@Chris You sound like a lot of fun.
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@Chris. I'd like to second your emotion Chris. It was a showoff review that drew more attention to the critic than the movie. Typically annoying review by this "co-chief" film critic.
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I'll watch it, it'll do me.
Anything to distract me from the Democrats, Trump, brexit, Bojo, heatwaves, immigration, banjaxed A/C's, and these new sandals, which are presently stuck to my swollen feet!!
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@mary
And besides, it will be nice to see a film that doesn't have car chase/explosion or superheroes fighting.
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Once there was a way, to write a proper film review.
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@db2 You have won this thread. Golden slumbers!!!
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I just found out that Ed Sheeran is in this Movie...
I could not possibly keep my pop corn down.. if I had to see this derivative of a derivative of Damien Rice on the big screen for more than one second .. I’ll bail on this flick .. and go see “elementary penguin singing Hari Krishna”
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A.O. Scott appears to be screaming “Help! I need somebody, not just anybody...” to explain to him why people might go for a lighthearted rom-com with an interesting premise in this divided age. Loosy is this guy with demands that it make logical sense. You can almost hear him thinking while watching it, “What I’m talkin’ ‘bout, boys, is that I’d have to admit it’s getting better (it can’t get no worse).” Half of what he says is meaningless, but he needs a break, ‘cuz maybe he wants to be a paperback writer, instead?
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Given that Mr Scott usually overpraises mediocre films -- a self-delivered pean perhaps to the inadequacy of most movies these days -- I'm taking this review for what it's really saying: The writer and director have taken a fun but poorly thought-out premise and failed to weave a successful plot at all from it.
A.O. didn't really want to stop the show, but the movie sounds a mess. They'll be lots of weeping guitar(ist)s.
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I honestly cannot believe this film got made. This is just so, so incredibly stupid.
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@Elvis
Different strokes for different folks. To me, it sounds like a lot of fun. Remember when movies were fun?
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@sjs
Surely “Elvis” was being ironic?
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Scott’s review is one of the kinder ones I have read on “Yesterday”.
Although I am a big fan of Doyle’s directing, I have zero interest in the film. The whole premise it’s based on seems too weak.
Admittedly, I am old enough to admit I saw the Beatles age 11 at Shea. (Thanks, by the way to “The NY Times” whose reporter refused to review among a bunch of screaming teens and passed the tickets onto my Aunt.)
With that said, am glad another generation appreciates this music from a band that will stand the test of time. Do I want to see
a Day in the Life reimagined? Not so much.
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This is actually one of the more positive reviews of "Yesterday" that I've read so it's surprising to see so many commenters here taking exception to Mr. Scott wondering if the reason the music was and is so appealing is because of context.
I don't think Mr. Scott is suggesting that the Beatles music is mediocre. I think it does the Beatles an enormous disservice to suggest that the music *on it's own* is so special that it doesn't matter who sings it – that a random struggling songwriter could conger the emotion to produce and make popular those same tunes. The Beatles were musical geniuses whose lived experience made that art possible - to suggest that there was nothing special about them aside from the music strikes me as minimizing their importance.
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The music can stand on it's own as numerous covers have shown.
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Sirius XM radio has a Beatles channel with lots of listeners who were born after the Beatles broke up, which would indicate that there are a great many latter-day Lennon-McCartney fans who never experienced Beatlemania. They do, however, seem to like some songs that original fans might consider secondary works. That might be a function of the McCartney playlist.
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A very clever and funny review. I wish the movie promised as much, although I'll probably go see it anyway.
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@kate j Heavy-handed, self-conscious song references ruined this vapid review for me. "Funny"? "Clever"? Try strained. Why are nerdy intellectuals the least funny folks?
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Saw “Yesterday” in a preview yesterday; no pun intended. It is fun, and the story is no less plausible than many others. “Yesterday” is endearing in a way that catches your love of Beatles songs, while asking if truth wins over self-aggrandizement. It should be seen and thoroughly enjoyed. A smile remains on my face.
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@Stewart
True: how is forgetting the Beatles less plausible than superheros fighting time-traveling monsters bent on taking over the world or talking pets? Now there is realism for you!
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But Mr Scott, the Beatles' music is infinitely better than anything Sheeran has done. Your argument that the Beatles made music that is short-lived and nothing special sorta falls apart at that point.
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I am desperately trying not to use Beatles' lyrics to write this. I'd better give up before I lapse.
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@Occupy Government So glad you didn't try, unlike the lame Scott attempts.
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Sounds like a light-hearted movie, worth checking out.
I must take exception to this comment though:
"What if the popularity of the Beatles’ music was as much a product of a specific time and set of circumstances as the music itself? What if, on first hearing “Yesterday,” Jack’s friends took it for an obscure Mumford & Sons B-side."
Ummm, there are young people in India, China, (back in the USSR :)) and parts of Africa who have heard Beatles songs and know nothing whatsoever of the time and set of circumstances and are simply entranced by the music. Think of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" how many people know nothing about "its time and set of circumstances" but enjoy it and hum along whether it is Muzak on an elevator or a dial tone on somebody's phone in the park?
Speaking of Salieri, in the movie "Amadeus" the early scene of Salieri and the priest who comes to give him his last rites exemplifies the magic of brilliant tunes and music regardless of whether it was Mozart or Lennon/McCartney. I always smile when I think of that scene.
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@Suppan
The weekday morning host for Vermont Public Radio has his own musical interludes between stories, They are usually topical to the just completed news story. Most are instrumentals version of songs from those late 60’s / early ‘70 — talking ‘bout my generation.
Just the other day one was from the Beatles, I remember it from the White Album. This version sounded as fresh as the original did 50+ years ago.
As Duke Ellington said: “If it sounds good, it is good”
That interlude sounded good, real good.
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This movie seems like it was made for all the lonely people out there. Make sure though, that you don't take the long and winding road, or you'll miss the previews.
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I wanna hold your hand.
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@kjd
All those lonely people
Where do they all come from ... determines whether it’s a long & winding road. Of course they could be from nowhere, man.
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Saw the previews and can't wait to see the film. It looks delightful.
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For reference, I was about 14 when Beatlemania hit the first time around. I was enthralled, couldn't get enough.
A remarkably clever premise. When I saw the first trailer, I couldn't stop smiling.
I won't pay to see it in a theater (I no longer go to theaters - people behave obnoxiously, talking, texting, arguing as if they were home in their living rooms), but eagerly await its release on premium TV channels, or Netflix, or Amazon Prime Video.
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@WeAreWeary Sorry you've been jaded to the theatre-going experience. Yes, some audience members are bad, but not all: We saw "Yesterday" at a packed screening and the audience was respectfully quiet except for moments that earned gasps, laughs, cheers or applause. Nothing can beat the experience of watching a movie/play/concert with several hundred (or thousand) people who are sharing - and savoring - the moment.
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I'm not sure what Mr. Scott is getting at here. The film sounds delightful, much like his Lennon/McCartney references.
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Cotton Candy would be different if you made it with Tupelo honey or blackstrap molasses. Just enjoy the white sugar, and remember to wash your hands and face afterwards.
Nice lyrical references, though.
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