The setup is pretty simple: Himesh Patel is a singer/songwriter in a small English seaside town. He plays an acoustic guitar and sings to very small audiences, including a small group of friends who love him and like his music. His manager/best friend, Lily James has gotten him a gig at a big festival, but he winds up playing in a small tent to an audience of two children. He tells James that he is going to quit music and go back to teaching. Then, on his way home, there is a global power glitch and he his hit by a car.
He wakes up pretty battered, but when he is released from the hospital, he thanks his friends by playing them the song "Yesterday". They are blown away by this song they think he wrote. Later, a Google search reveals that the Beatles don't exist (also, no Coca Cola). So he furiously begins trying to remember the words to every Beatles song he can come up with.
He gets more and more famous. He opens for Ed Sheeran, which allows for a lot of good natured joshing at his expense. This would be funnier if I knew who Ed Sheeran is. In the end, he has to learn to love ... not himself - his music is still garbage - but Lily James.
This wasn't as bad as I expected. Patel is quite sympathetic and easy to like. Lily James manages to look quite plain, which must have been hard. The humor is light and easy - Oasis doesn't exist in this world, because they didn't have the Beatles to cadge off.
But my main objection is this: The Beatles were a product of their times. "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" is not going to be a hit today - that style of music is old-fashioned and too much of a niche. The later works, maybe. "Yesterday" is a good example of a timeless song. It also works for one voice and an acoustic guitar. The Beatles didn't just write songs, they sang in beautiful harmony and had amazing and groundbreaking production values. Hearing them done solo sounds ok, but only because they are covers of well-loved hits.
As I understand, in the original script, the singer couldn't get anyone to listen to the Beatles songs he appropriates. This makes sense to me. World-famous violinist Joshua Bell played his violin outside a subway stop in Washington DC and was ignored by almost everyone. This seems like what would happen to Patel.
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