Yesterday is the latest comedy (with sad bits) from Richard Curtis, directed by Danny Boyle, about an unsuccessful singer-songwriter, Jack, who wakes up to discover that he’s the only one who remembers the Beatles so can now steal all their tunes, if he’s of that mind. Unusually for Curtis, the lead is an Asian and there is no Bill Nighy (not a sign, not a whiff), which is an advance. And there are some funny moments — when Jack first plays ‘Yesterday’ to some friends, one sniffs: ‘It’s not exactly Coldplay, is it?’ But. It’s all intertwined with a romance that is not just generic but also intolerable. Strangely, I’ve still yet to be invited to speak at any film school, but if I were I would offer this as my first piece of sound advice: ‘Please stop having young women in flowery dresses helping men realise who they are while lovingly watching on from the wings. Thanks.’
Jack (Himesh Patel) is a Suffolk boy who busks without any crowds gathering at all, the poor fella, yet he does, somewhat inexplicably, have a manager (Ellie, played by Lily James). She has been a friend since school and, to be fair, she does secure him a gig at Latitude, even if he plays to an empty tent. She believes in his talent and schlepps his guitar — let him do it himself! — and is obviously in love with him. But he isn’t aware of that, as would have to be the case if the generic romance is to play out, and she is to watch from the wings until he finally comprehends what’s what.
Jack is, in fact, about to give up music when there’s this freak event involving a 12-second global power outage during which he is knocked unconscious by a bus.
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