'Yesterday' Reviews Come In: ‘I Read The News Today Oh Boy’

'Yesterday' Seems So Far Away

If you’re thinking of running out to see “Yesterday” today or this weekend, be warned the critics aren’t exactly shouting, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Seems director DANNY BOYLE and writer RICHARD CURTIS’ new BEATLES homage, “Yesterday” is getting several thumbs-down among the nation’s Siskel & Ebert wannabes  In fact, the reviews for the movie, which opened today and imagines a world where there’s no BEATLES, featuring a much-discussed cameo by ED SHEERAN, are saying it’s not exactly “A Hard Day’s Night.”

The N.Y. TIMES’ A.O. SCOTT was among the kindest, offering “it’s appealing and accessible in a way that THE BEATLES never really were. If it took itself – and them – a bit more seriously, it would be a lot more fun.  But it wasn’t made to last.”

The L.A. TIMES’ JUSTIN CHANG was harsher: “’Yesterday’ is almost impressive in its bad faith, its misjudgment of its own premise and its cheap, mercenary attitude toward some of the greatest rock songs ever written… [It] leans so heavily on our affection for THE BEATLES’ music that it never allows that music to live, breathe and seduce us anew.”

ROLLING STONE critic PETER TRAVERS’  review was a little gentler, but also finds the movie wanting, “The film takes some seriously wrong turns, such as an awful surprise cameo near the end and an unexplored argument about whether imitation BEATLES is better than no BEATLES at all. ‘Yesterday’ has its heart firmly in the right place. It’s the challenge to take it to the next level that’s missing.”

The NATIONAL REVIEW’s acerbic ARMOND WHITE was most blunt, “’Yesterday’ is cynical, fake nostalgia.. it will appall anyone who has ever loved a BEATLES song.”

Offered VARIETY’s OWEN GLIEBERMAN: The filmmakers reduce the Beatles to a kind of karaoke kitsch epiphany. In ‘Yesterday,’ there's no mystery to these songs. The whole joke is what cosmically known quantities they are.”

Not everyone agreed with that take, though.  

Said EMPIRE’s HELEN O’HARA: “A glowing tribute to THE BEATLES and their music, this is both a toe-tapping pleasure to watch and a smart, occasionally scathing look at how we get things wrong.”
So, see for yourself, and it’ll be interesting to note how the film does at the box office after the stunning success of the QUEEN biopic, “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the not-bad showing for ELTON JOHN’s “Rocketman.”

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