YMMV / Yesterday (2019)

• Cliché Storm: While the concept of an alternate history where the Beatles never became famous is quite interesting, the beats the story hits regarding Jack's rise to fame - a Corrupt Corporate Executive trying to control his image, him hoping fame doesn't change him, having a love interest who he knew before his rise - are all very cliched.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: Many of the deleted scenes (Jack appearing on The Late Show, a humorous race to get to an interview on time, one of the songs being used in an ice cream commercial etc.) have their fans. The one that probably has the most defenders is the original twist of Ellie being the one to remember Harry Potter in the ending while no one else does.
• Fandom Rivalry: Somewhat with Blinded by the Light, another film about a British Asian man inspired by a rock n' roll icon (in their case, Bruce Springsteen) that came out the same summer. While Yesterday eclipsed Blinded box office-wise, Blinded had better critical reviews and more discussions of what it means to be British Asian, since it was based on a memoir.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • The idea of something crucial to pop culture disappearing all of a sudden with only a few people remembering it has loads of possibilities for interesting scenarios.
  • Whatever caused the blackout that led to the changing of history as we know it has been a prime source of fan theories.
  • What the other discrepancies between Jack's new timeline and the one he left are is a prime source for fan theories.
  • While John Lennon's fate has been revealed, what happened to Paul, George and Ringo?
• Genius Bonus:
  • Jack is outraged when it's suggested "Hey Jude" be renamed to "Hey Dude." Paul McCartney originally wrote the song for John Lennon's son Julian to comfort him during his parents' divorce (the working title was "Hey Jules", since "Jules" was McCartney's nickname for Julian), with the lyrics assuring Julian that the other Beatles would still always be his family even if his father walked out on him. Without that context, of course, no one understands the title.
  • John Lennon mentions that he struggled with a past relationship that ultimately didn't work out, likely alluding to the real Lennon's tumultuous relationship with his first wife Cynthia. Although some reviewers complained that the film sugarcoated Lennon's flaws to an extent, it's pretty clear that the filmmakers were aware of his emotional issues.
• He Really Can Act: Ed Sheeran is best known for his music. Nevertheless, he has one poignant scene where he thinks that Jack is a better artist than he is after they do a fun songwriting competition, and leaves as a sad Graceful Loser.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: As noted on the Headscratchers page, the absence of the song "Helter Skelter" raises the possibility that the Charles Manson murders may not have happened. 2019 saw the release of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood where the Manson Family murders are about to happen, but it becomes an alternate history where they don't when that film's two protagonists stop the murderers. Perhaps the films exist in the same universe.
• Older Than They Think: In addition to the examples mentioned below, Entertainment Weekly ran an article in 2004 called "Do the Beatles Still Matter?" that speculated what the world would be like if they never existed. Also, in the Doctor Who audio drama "1963: Fanfare for the Common Men", the Beatles' place in history is taken by the fictional band the Common Men.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Robert Carlyle plays John Lennon who, having never become a superstar, survived to old age and now lives deep in the country. Jack locates him and visits him, giving Jack the advice he needs to quit his career for the woman he loves.
  • Sarah Lancashire as well, appearing in only a couple of scenes as another woman who remembers the Beatles and in fact thanks Jack for helping people rediscover their music.
• So Okay, It's Average: Reviews weren't kind to the formulaic plot and the wasted potential of the premise. However there is a lot of charm in the film - particularly at Lily James for her downright adorable performance as Ellie - and a few other touches that bring it up somewhat.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!:
  • It has been criticized for copying David Blot and Jamie Royer's graphic novel of the same name which was about a man going back in time and releasing Beatles songs before the band formed.
  • There's also Greg Taylor's 2010 young adult novel "The Girl Who Became a Beatle" which follows a very similar premise; a young struggling musician wakes up in a world where her band has replaced The Beatles in rock history, with her now being responsible for having written all the songs originally by The Beatles.
  • Not to mention this was released the same year as Blinded by the Light, which also features a South Asian protagonist inspired by a major musician, in this case, Bruce Springsteen instead of the Beatles.
  • Predating all three of the above the 1990s British sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart about a man time travelling to wartime London and making a living as a singer/songwriter by pretending to have written songs that, from the perspective of 1940, hadn't been written yet. While a variety of songs from a variety of artists were used this way, the Beatles were the most prominent.
  • Author Nick Milligan noted the premise of someone landing in a world where "The Beatles" never existed is similar to his own book, "Enormity".
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • You'd think a world which the Beatles never existed would have tons of potential for interesting speculation on how the musical landscape would look without them. Not only does the movie not explore any of them, the musical scene seems identical to the real world, except the Beatles (and Oasis) never existed. This creates a confusing situation where the Beatles didn't exist but their influence still happened somehow; while it's possible that it's not an Alternate Timeline and the blackout simply removed all memories and remnants of the Beatles, that just creates a different question of how John Lennon is suddenly alive again.
  • When Jack searches if there's any surviving info about the Beatles, he discovers that a number of other things have also been removed/never existed (depending on how you look at it), but none of them are explored in depth either except as throwaway jokes: Oasis also never formed as a band and it's shown that Jack knows at least one of their songs, but he never uses any of their music. Cigarettes also don't exist, meaning that presumably everybody who died from smoking-related illnesses (including George Harrison!) in the original timeline didn't in this one, but this is never explored either. It's worthing noting, though, that just because cigarretes don't exist in this film's post-blackout universe, it doesn't necessarily means that smoking in general doesn't exist. There could still be cigars, pipes, hookah and other means of smoking tobacco. Harry Potter is also stated to not exist, without which there is no genre of young adult literature as it exists today, but again this is not explored. And with no Coca-Cola to help integration in Atlanta, is America more racist than our timeline?
  • Exactly how the blackout caused everyone to forget the Beatles or made them never form a band in the first place is never explored. It would have been interesting if Jack had asked John Lennon a question along the lines of: "Back in the 50's, were you ever in a skiffle or rock and roll band? What happened to that?"
  • Exactly how the blackout happened in the first place is never explored.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic:
  • Debbie, Jack's Los Angeles manager. She's portrayed as a Corrupt Corporate Executive but is very upfront about her intentions to use him to make a lot of money and build his career. What's more, she's not wrong about how he needs to make his image more flattering and to own it before someone else does. To cap it off, Jack did lie to her and the world that he wrote the songs, and she's right to be furious when he confesses it.
  • To add to this, Jack himself. While he did claim another band's work as entirely his own, it's worth acknowledging that he recreated a significant portion of The Beatles' extensive discography from memory. That demonstrates an extraordinary musical ability that deserves recognition.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Jack when competing with Ed Sheeran in a 10 minute song writing competition. Sheeran predictably only comes up with a pleasant but unexceptional ditty, which makes Jack choosing to debut "The Long and Winding Road" feel a bit cruel, especially given The Beatles certainly had plenty of simple songs he could've chosen to play and easily won with instead of one of the most acclaimed pieces of music of all time.

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