Yesterday

Name: Yesterday
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Comedy, Romance, Music
Released: June 28, 2019
Duration: 116 min
Rating: 55
Cast: Alexander Arnold, Ana de Armas, Camilla Rutherford, Camille Chen, Ed Sheeran

2019

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 45 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 235 Ratings

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6.2

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6.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 235 Ratings

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Yesterday (US Trailer 1)

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Movie Details & Credits

Universal Pictures | Release Date: June 28, 2019 | PG-13

Starring: Alexander Arnold, Ana de Armas, Camilla Rutherford, Camille Chen, Ed Sheeran, Ellise Chappell, Harry Michell, Himesh Patel, James Corden, Joel Fry, Karma Sood, Kate McKinnon, Lamorne Morris, Lily James, Meera Syal, Michael Kiwanuka, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Sophia Di Martino, Vincent Franklin

Summary: Yesterday, everyone knew The Beatles. Today, only Jack remembers their songs. Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie (Lily James). Then, after a freak bus accident during aYesterday, everyone knew The Beatles. Today, only Jack remembers their songs. Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie (Lily James). Then, after a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed … and he finds himself with a very complicated problem, indeed. Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them, and with a little help from his steel-hearted American agent, Debra (Kate McKinnon), Jack’s fame explodes. But as his star rises, he risks losing Ellie — the one person who always believed in him. With the door between his old life and his new closing, Jack will need to get back to where he once belonged and prove that all you need is love. … Expand

Director: Danny Boyle

Genre(s): Drama, Fantasy, Comedy, Romance, Music, Musical

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 116 min

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Critic Reviews

Empire Helen O'Hara

May 7, 2019

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. Read full review

The Telegraph Robbie Collin

May 4, 2019

The film has lots of fun with its premise – until America beckons, then suddenly it seems to lose its head of steam. ... Yet it rallies in style for a beautifully judged and surprisingly moving finale. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

Jun 26, 2019

One thing Yesterday does is rather miraculous. It forces us to hear these Beatles songs as if for the first time. Read full review

K. Austin Collins

Aug 6, 2019

Yesterday isn’t nearly as fantastical, sweet, or light on its feet as it could be—and maybe that’s because of that darn premise. It’s somehow both too basic and too rich. There’s too much one could do with it, but too little vision in what Boyle and Curtis ultimately put forward—even as real tensions, real sticks in music history’s craw, populate the margins. Read full review

John Anderson

Jun 27, 2019

It’s not as if the people never existed, only the band, and the logical conclusion of all this speculation is exactly where the movie takes itself. I don’t want to spoil the party, but it feels like exploitation. Read full review

Fionnuala Halligan

May 4, 2019

Yesterday is a film we’re all familiar with, for better or worse. Read full review

Vince Mancini

Jan 2, 2020

Yesterday isn’t really about the Beatles. It isn’t about art, or career, or cultural context, or the music business, and it’s only about “love” inasmuch as Hallmark cards and McMansion word art are about love. It isn’t really about anything. Read full review

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User Reviews

ElaineP

Jul 3, 2019

I LOVE this movie. It is whimsical, charming, fun, and humorous. Patel does a fabulous job of singing the Beatles songs, and the back-up musicians are great also.

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

Deiradinn

Jan 26, 2020

I really enjoyed this movie, I don't honestly see why anyone would have any distances for the movie. It speaks about being happy, love of good music, and everything. Loved it.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MasterRiley

Aug 1, 2019

Yesterday is a nice love letter to the Beatles. Himesh Patel gives a good performance as the lead character, Jack, and sings all the Beatles songs very nicely with his own unique spin. The premise of the this movie is super unique and funny and would be a great watch for any Beatles fan.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

theredsky

Jul 6, 2019

This is a decent movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. Here are the negatives. Just like Ma and Brightburn, the concept of the film is really good but it isn’t explored enough. You want to know more but it decides to focus on more character drama. Ed Sheeran is not the best actor in the world andThis is a decent movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. Here are the negatives. Just like Ma and Brightburn, the concept of the film is really good but it isn’t explored enough. You want to know more but it decides to focus on more character drama. Ed Sheeran is not the best actor in the world and he just looks incredibly awkward in this film. In most scenes he is in, it looks like he is incredibly confused. Another aspect would be that there are a lot of plotholes thrown into this film that when you notice them, it starts to take you out of the experience. The editing for this film is not good at all. There are too many cuts for some scenes and scenes just keep cutting away every 2-3 seconds when it shouldn’t. The camera angles are so obnoxious in some scenes that it is distracting. Some scenes are tilted at a 45 degree angle for no apparent reason at all and it is just annoying. The humor is not that funny at all and I only chuckled one joke throughout the entire film. I’m not huge on Kate McKinnon as the primary antagonist in this movie. She just feels out of place surrounded by everyone else. Here are the positives. Himesh Patel and Lily James do a great job and have great chemistry together. Patel’s performance is actually really good. He gives a ton of emotion, he’s a good singer, and he knew what he was doing. Most of the supporting cast does a good job with what they are given. I was surprised about how much heart there was in this film. You genuinely care about the experiences they go through. There is one particular scene that I feel is very very touching. Patel’s character is given an address and he drives to this secluded location where he knocks on the door and John Lennon answers it. He gives some inspirational words to Patel’s character and it is very nice, emotional, and touching. The new renditions of The Beatles songs is actually pretty good. I enjoyed listening to them a lot. The cinematography is good in most areas but it is not special. The tone remains consistent throughout the entire film and it’s also paced really well. Overall, Yesterday is a great Beatles love letter with lots of heart, good acting, and interesting renditions of good songs but is held back by major plot holes, poor editing, weird casting choices, and an underexplored premise. I give Yesterday a 6/10.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

JLuis_001

Jul 10, 2019

First of all I have to get something out of my chest and it's for the producers and writer of this film: **** you!!!
And that's because they thought they could do a simple romantic comedy with the Beatles music and they were going to get away with it.
This film was written by Richard CurtisFirst of all I have to get something out of my chest and it's for the producers and writer of this film: **** you!!!
And that's because they thought they could do a simple romantic comedy with the Beatles music and they were going to get away with it.

This film was written by Richard Curtis and if anyone had told me that he also directed it, I would never have doubted it. That should give you a little idea of where the **** Danny Boyle went with this story.
He was going to direct the new James Bond film and instead he ended up delivering this.

There's no surprise or revelation in this film. It's a simplistic romantic comedy that doesn't propose anything new nor it tries to do it.
The story and the characters are not endearing in any way and maybe the best time of it and probably one that will save it beyond the Beatles music is the scene with Robert Carlyle playing John Lennon (Hey, they managed to make Yoko Ono disappear)
Beyond that there isn't much more to say.

If new generations discover the Beatles with this film, well that's fine, all the better for it.
I assume that for many it was like that with Bohemian Rhapsody for Queen and Rocketman for Elton John but if so, it also depresses me because evidently in musical terms they're not paying attention where they should be… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Eduardo7u7

Oct 15, 2019

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. la película tiene un final sin sentido y el trama del tráiler (que la verdad hubiera quedado muy bien) no se mostró, más que de una forma banal… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Logithegreat

Apr 29, 2020

One of the worst resolutions in all forms of media of all time. So bad in fact I made a Metacritic account just to rate how bad it was. Up until the climax the movie was a solid 7+ but how they summed everything up to basically to be a horrid selfish forced awkward love triangle reallyOne of the worst resolutions in all forms of media of all time. So bad in fact I made a Metacritic account just to rate how bad it was. Up until the climax the movie was a solid 7+ but how they summed everything up to basically to be a horrid selfish forced awkward love triangle really killed everything good about the movie.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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54	#54 Most Discussed Movie of 2019
31	#31 Most Shared Movie of 2019