Richard Curtis & Danny Boyle come together for a feel-good but lightweight Beatles love-in.

By this point, I’m sure we’ve all made up our minds on Richard Curtis. Let’s face it, if you haven’t got an opinion on the man who’s been churning out Brit hits since Four Weddings and a Funeral by now, you probably never will.

Perhaps one of the most Marmite British screenwriters working today, Curtis has a style unto himself. Full of unrelenting schmaltz, floppy-haired nonsense, and rich white folk; films like Notting Hill and Love Actually have become bywords for Britishness around the world, whether Brits like it or not.

For some, his films are a delightfully quirky, warmly nostalgic view of British life. Silly and contrived but, ultimately, a cinematic security blanket against a cold and uncaring world. To others, they’re the epitome of everything that’s wrong with British cinema. A sickly-sweet, gentrified look at the country and a party where those not white and wealthy aren’t invited.

Where you fall on the subject will almost certainly inform your view on Yesterday, yet there may be a glimmer of hope to suggest that this one could be a different tune altogether. After all, as divided as the opinion is on Richard Curtis, Danny Boyle is one of the most respected directors in the game, so the two coming together feels like it might potentially spark a revolution.

Caught in a creative funk, struggling singer-songwriter Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) sees his dreams of fame rapidly fading before his eyes. Despite fierce devotion and support from childhood friend Ellie (Lily James), Jack is ready to quit music forever when a freak accident during a global blackout turns his life on its head. Waking up to discover that nobody but him remembers The Beatles, Jack hatches a plan to repurpose the band’s songs and rebuild his career. However, as his star rapidly ascends, the guilt starts to gnaw away at him as he risks losing both his fame and the one person who has always believed in him.

As hooks go, Yesterday’s is a bit of a cracker. The idea of smacking your head and waking up as the only one who’s ever heard of the biggest band in the world is one of those ‘what if’ concepts whose beauty lies in its simplicity. It’s a neat, uncomplicated premise that throws up many questions and even more potential dramatic scenarios. The only problem, however, is that a film doesn’t work on a concept alone, no matter how well conceived it is.

A gimmick will only get you so far on its own and that’s where Yesterday stumbles. For all its potential, Richard Curtis runs short of ideas relatively quickly as he puts all the legwork into setting things up, before coming unstuck attempting to sustain the concept over the course of the entire film.

Sweet, well-meaning, and warmly humorous, Curtis’ script certainly has fun with the setup, yet struggles to fulfil its potential, gradually descending, like many of the writer’s previous efforts, into a puddle of eccentric emptiness. Using a similar brand of soft sci-fi that worked perfectly in About Time, Curtis wastes no time setting things up but, as the novelty of the hook begins to wear thin, so too do the ideas.

Where About Time found success by supporting its time travelling setup with a real emotional punch, Yesterday never really finds its soul. Of course, we have some level of emotional engagement, with the central relationship between Jack and Ellie showing great potential, yet it never delivers the required depth to really hit those high notes.

However, what Yesterday lacks in emotional depth, it certainly makes up in humour. Warm and gentle, the film’s comedy rarely stretches itself, yet manages to mine the quirks of the setup as far as it can. Although the writing feels a little cringeworthy at times, coming off like a riff on contemporary music penned by your dad, there’s still plenty to admire in the humour.

Half high-concept jukebox musical, half undercooked rom-com, Yesterday feels unsure of what it wants to be, never quite balancing its two sides convincingly. As an unabashed Beatles love-in, the film works, even if it’s purely on a superficial level; however, as a functioning romantic comedy, it falls somewhat short.

The plot itself rides along on a heady, nostalgic wave of Beatlemania, as Jack comes to terms with their absence and sees his opportunity to take advantage of it, yet, by throwing in a thin, well-worn love angle, things begin to wobble. As sweet as the will-they-won’t-they relationship between the rising star and Lily James’ Ellie is, the writing on it feels a little limp, never truly gelling with the film’s musical side.

As a consequence of this imbalance, Yesterday fails to exploit its setup to its fullest. The rise to fame angle works well enough, and there’s a lot of inherent fun to be had in seeing everyone clueless to even the most iconic Beatles song, as well as seeing Jack work out how to capitalise on it, yet the moment he hits the heights of fame, the plot rapidly devolves into a mess of cliché.

But then I’d be surprised if you went into a Richard Curtis movie of any description not expecting cliché in some form. Like them or loath them, cliché and Curtis films go hand in hand. Make peace with this and there’s much to enjoy in what Yesterday is offering.

Yesterday’s primary objective is clearly to celebrate the life, legacy, and music of The Beatles and, in that respect, the film achieves exactly what it sets out to. Thanks to the charm and performance skills of Himesh Patel, the film brims with pure Beatles joy and even the few out there not overly enamoured with the band will find it hard to resist when Yesterday finds its groove.

While there’s certainly an air of karaoke about the entire thing, Patel’s vocals and guitar work certainly sell him as an unlikely rock hero, and his ability to carry such iconic songs like he wrote them is quite some achievement in what feels like a star-making turn for him. With his schlubby, everyman appearance and a wide-eyed innocence, Patel is perfectly suited to the role and plays a huge part in selling the film, even in its shakiest moments.

The fact that he’s the first non-white lead in a Richard Curtis film is an achievement in itself, but when you consider the casual way his ethnicity is dealt with; Yesterday may well be one of the most low-key progressive films of the year. Jack isn’t a stereotype and at no point is his race played for laughs, plot progression, or blunt social commentary. He is who he is – a bloke with a talent and a passion for The Beatles – and the film just rolls with it.

As the film’s central pairing, Patel and Lily James are absolutely adorable together, with a chemistry that elevates Yesterday above its problems to become something surprisingly sweet and positively irresistible at times. Their friendship is such a key part of making the opening act work that it’s ultimately a shame when the plot progresses and their time on screen together diminishes.

At this point, Lily James has been reduced to a bystander as the plot nudges Ellie to the side-lines, focusing instead on Jack’s rise to fame. It’s a timeworn trait of many rising star movies to have female characters there purely to serve the narrative of the (usually) male lead and it’s a crying shame that Yesterday takes this route, as James’ talents warrant so much more.

Alongside them, a liberal sprinkling of cameos and big names pop up, some more successful than others, including a rather awkward looking Ed Sheeran and an on form Kate McKinnan, who bulldozes her way through the film as Jack’s no-nonsense manager. There’s also room for that most Richard Curtis of characters – the comic relief sidekick – this time played with bumbling aplomb by Joel Fry.

In amongst it all, it’s easy to miss the fact this is actually a Danny Boyle movie. Toning down the style that made him his name, Boyle plays it relatively safe with what is a surprisingly benign project for such a progressive director. Of course, there are flashes of the Danny Boyle we know and love in the odd edit, camera angle, or musical flourish, yet they’re disappointingly few and far between, lost in all that Richard Curtis cosiness.

Credit must go to the director, however, for dampening Curtis’ worst instincts. With a far younger and more diverse cast than we’re used to from the writer, it’s clear that Boyle has had a hand in bringing his twee British stylings dragging them into check and into the 21st century. Of course, Curtis’ voice is behind it all, often coming across like your dad forcing you to listen to his entire Beatles collection until you love them as much as he does, but the effect is largely tempered by Boyle’s involvement.

Yesterday is a tonal juggling act that both Curtis and Boyle struggle to handle, however. With great musical numbers and a touching love story at its heart, the film’s two contrasting sides often fail to meld together, causing the entire thing to suffer. As a result, the film never quite backs up the potential of its premise, creating a joyous, enthusiastic ode to The Beatles without any of the required depth.

Primed to land somewhere in the mid-Atlantic, Yesterday is a classic Richard Curtis Brit-flick that plays to an international audience while working its quaint, middle class charms for all they’re worth. As a love letter to The Beatles, the film works well, yet it never fully satisfies as a whole, struggling to play the interesting concept out to its full potential. The charm and chemistry of Himesh Patel and Lily James carry the film through many of its roughest moments, however, Yesterday carries a constant, underlying feeling of what could’ve been, as the film struggles to back up its hook with a decent chorus.