Yesterday
Universal Pictures | Release Date: June 28, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 45 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
22
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
EmpireHelen O'HaraMay 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
80
Arizona RepublicEd MasleyJul 1, 2019
Patel does a masterful job of portraying the inner turmoil that comes with a musician having found the fame he thought he always wanted while knowing he's living a lie. And he's great in the musical numbers, which do their best to sound like someone capturing the spirit of those Beatles songs from memory. Read full review
80
Film ThreatAlan NgJun 29, 2019
What Richard Curtis brilliantly does with this well-worn storyline is bring in elements to make it feel fresh. Read full review
80
IGNMatthew DoughertyMay 15, 2019
Yesterday doesn’t take too many chances, but it does boast a well-told story with a cast that’s game for both its comedic and more dramatic moments. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 5, 2019
Although this film can be a bit hokey and uncertain on narrative development, the puppyish zest and fun summoned up by Curtis and Boyle carry it along. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 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
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 27, 2019
Although the idea behind Yesterday was to craft a love-letter to The Beatles, the end result tastes a lot like a typical Richard Curtis rom-com with a generous helping of John-Paul-George-Ringo gravy. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerJun 27, 2019
So, is Yesterday a one-trick Dig a Pony or did renowned British screenwriter Richard Curtis and the great British filmmaker Danny Boyle turn a cute hook into something meaningful? The answer is that the duo tries for the latter, but doesn’t quite nail it. Read full review
75
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJun 26, 2019
If you’re a Fab Four fan like I am, that setup itself sends you into an existential tizzy. But it makes for a likable, quirky movie that’s British writer Richard Curtis’ (“Bridget Jones’ Diary”) best work in years. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittJun 26, 2019
Introduces an endearing, guitar-strumming new star in British actor Himesh Patel. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 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
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJul 1, 2019
The movie is fun, largely because it proposes that fun is the principal legacy of the Beatles. Read full review
70
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 26, 2019
Yesterday has its heart firmly in the right place. It’s the challenge to take it to the next level that’s missing. Read full review
67
Original-CinThom ErnstJul 3, 2019
Not only is this Boyle's gentlest film since the under-seen and underrated Millions (2004), it's also his most improbable, imperfect, and delightful work. Read full review
67
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJun 27, 2019
It takes a huge leap of faith to go along for the ride, but Boyle’s impassioned, viscerally paced, and well-directed movie is so heartfelt, even the biggest pessimist will likely begrudgingly warm to it, flaws, and off-key notes and all. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyDarren FranichJun 26, 2019
Fairy tales edge toward strangeness, and the sanded edges of Yesterday ultimately feel more like a flashy commercial — one of those recent music documentaries commissioned by the people on screen, propaganda with feels. The music’s good, duh, and it’ll be just as good when your local high school performs Yesterday. Which lucky kid gets to play Ed Sheeran? Read full review
67
The Film StageJohn FinkMay 19, 2019
Yesterday, a sweet and well-meaning comedy, is a cautionary tale in taking on such an iconic musical output without adding much new to it. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesBrent McKnightJul 1, 2019
Yesterday offers no answers or explanations. It presents its idea and runs — and you either buy it or you don’t. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckJun 27, 2019
For every laugh-out-loud moment in the smartly paced first half, there’s a sigh later as to what might have been. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayJun 27, 2019
Eventually — perhaps inevitably — Yesterday overplays its hand, with Curtis seemingly at a loss for how to resolve a story that, after its initial premise has been mined for maximum humor and poignancy, has very few places to go. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyJun 27, 2019
If nothing else, Danny Boyle's Yesterday, which imagines a world where the Beatles never happened, made me think about what would it be like to hear "Yesterday" for the first time, what life would be like if the Beatles didn't exist. The film, scripted by Richard Curtis, explores some of the implications of its premise, but, frustratingly, skips over others. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshJun 26, 2019
Everything in the film is high: high concept, high pressure, high stakes and it often feels bizarrely forced. Nothing makes any sense and is never explained. Read full review
60
Vanity FairK. Austin CollinsAug 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
60
We Got This CoveredLuke ParkerJul 2, 2019
Yesterday’s lackluster, underwritten script both births its golden egg concept, and also restrains it from ever reaching the next level of sophistication or interest. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 26, 2019
Yesterday is more of a novelty earworm than a classic. 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. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerJun 24, 2019
Yesterday, Boyle’s new Beatles-centric dramedy, comes closer than he’s ever dared before — which makes this likable, hummable movie particularly disappointing when it fails to ignite the pop fireworks of his best work. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 30, 2019
I can’t imagine a world without the Beatles, but I can well imagine a world without this movie. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonJun 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
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 26, 2019
It’s content to keep things light and predictable, with the result that one of the richest song catalogs known to man is here to prop up an increasingly formulaic and far-fetched love story. Yesterday makes less sense the longer it lasts, albeit with some good bits along the way. Read full review
50
The AtlanticDavid SimsJun 26, 2019
This is a film that could have been triumphantly weird, or soaringly corny; it tries to split the difference and ends up merely forgettable. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 26, 2019
As Danny Boyle movies go, I’d still rather see him get his shot at James Bond. As Beatles tributes go, I have to say I prefer Julie Taymor’s “Across the Universe,” which re-set the songbook in thrilling and inventing ways. Yesterday just makes me long for that unjustly maligned flop. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJun 25, 2019
Curtis isn’t the director of Yesterday; Danny Boyle has been brought in to lend his shallow virtuosity. But fluid transitions don’t make the movie less clunky. Patel has an appealing presence and a lovely, McCartney-­like tenor, but the musical numbers leave an odd taste. Read full review
50
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganMay 4, 2019
Yesterday is a film we’re all familiar with, for better or worse. Read full review
45
The VergeAdi RobertsonMay 17, 2019
Yesterday is a breezy, moderately funny romantic comedy with an excellent soundtrack — but one that never commits to its characters, themes, or clever premise. Read full review
42
ConsequenceBlake GobleMay 20, 2019
Yesterday is too trusting, too confident in its silly dream, and not fun or passionate enough. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 4, 2019
This sweet but vacuous exercise in suspending disbelief is an overstuffed and underwritten misfire. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeJun 29, 2019
There’s a zesty spark between Patel and James, and for a while the film chugs along happily on the goodwill bought by the soundtrack. Then one honkingly misjudged scene knocks the whole movie off key, heralding a toe-curling, tone-deaf terrace chant of an ending. Read full review
40
TimeStephanie ZacharekJun 26, 2019
Yesterday, a fantasy that works well enough as a Beatles love letter but falls short in the love-story department. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisJun 26, 2019
As the whimsical setup in Yesterday deteriorates until its unimaginative conclusion, the familiar Lennon/McCartney collaborations (along with a couple written by Harrison) provide the only solace, timeless songs that make it better. Viva Los Beatles! Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 26, 2019
It is hard to blame the audience for a movie that keeps daring us to envision a richer, funnier, more intelligent and imaginative version of it at every turn. Read full review
40
UproxxMike RyanMay 4, 2019
It has a killer premise, yet the movie seems to actively resent its own fantastic idea and just, instead, decided to become a fairly average romantic comedy — only with a lot more Beatles songs than the average rom com. Read full review
40
TheWrapDan CallahanMay 4, 2019
Curtis’s twee, nudging, corny comedic voice is very much the main sensibility here, far more so than anything offered by director Danny Boyle or anyone else involved. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMay 4, 2019
Neither a no-nonsense delight like "She Loves You" nor the White Album-style head trip its premise might suggest, it's more of a "Yellow Submarine" sort of film: crowd-pleasing and sometimes enjoyable, but pretty damned dumb when you stop to think about it. Read full review
40
VarietyOwen GleibermanMay 4, 2019
In Yesterday, [Boyle and Curtis] reduce the Beatles to the ultimate product by declaring, at every turn, “These songs are transcendent!” And it’s the fact that they keep telling us, rather than showing us (i.e., with musical sequences that earned their transcendence), that makes Yesterday, for all the timeless songs in it, a cut-and-dried, rotely whimsical, prefab experience. Read full review
25
UproxxVince ManciniJan 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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