The Fab One

After starting out in TV comedy in England (“Blackadder,” “Spitting Image”), Richard Curtis moved into films where he wrote some of the best romantic comedies: Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and the Christmas perennial, Love Actually, which he also directed. After 2013’s About Time, he essentially retired from films, only doing shorts or TV. But then fate stepped in. Jack Barth, another TV writer, asked if Curtis would like to read a script he’d written about a world where no one remembered the Beatles. Curtis responded he’d pass on reading it, because he’d rather write it himself. And thus came Yesterday. (Barth has credit for the story.)

Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a struggling musician whose biggest fan is his manager, Ellie Appleton (Lily James). She’s also almost his only fan, as well as his roadie and driver in the evenings after spending her days teaching. After almost ten years with little success, Jack’s ready to hang up his guitar. But then one night there’s a strange, world-wide power outage, during which Jack’s hit by a bus in the darkness. He awakens in the hospital and soon discovers that no one remembers the Beatles except him. (Other things have disappeared from the world, but I won’t spoil the fun of discovering what’s gone.)

He tries to remember all their songs – a running joke is the inability to figure out what phrase goes where in “Eleanor Rigby” – and passes them off as his own. His life takes a major turn when Ed Sheeran hears him on a TV program and invites Jack to open for his European tour. Soon a predatory agent (Kate McKinnon) with a penchant for honesty has her hooks in him. But while his future seems limitless, Jack must face losing what’s truly important to him.

Himesh Patel is a true gem as Jack. He’d started out on the hugely successful English soap opera “EastEnders” and did some other TV, but this is his first starring role. He nails it, not just the acting but also the singing and performing. Patel is ably supported by James, who’s winsome and winning and lights up the screen in her every scene.  Ed Sheeran is Ed Sheeran, but he’s very good at being Ed Sheeran. Probably the weakest aspect of the movie is McKinnon, who goes so far over the top the role has a broad SNL skit feeling to it that’s out of synch with the sly and wry style of the film.

That aside, the story is well told by director Danny Boyle, especially when showing the painful embarrassment every musical artist endures in the hope that lightning will strike. Boyle’s never been constrained by genre, having done Trainspotting, 28 Days Later…, Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire, and 127 Hours, among other films. And there are surprising moments, including one scene that throws an emotional wrench into the story.

But the greatest strength within the movie is the music of the Beatles. Around 20 of their songs are included, and it brings home the genius of their writing. While they were the soundtrack of the ‘60s, the music is truly timeless, and it’s a joy to hear the pieces again. The end credits roll to the Beatles doing “Hey Jude,” which is long enough to cover the whole length of the crawl. I sat there letting the brilliant music flow over me.

Every summer, mixed in amongst the big action tentpole flicks, there’s usually one or two small gems that are antidotes to all the explosions or car chases. Yesterday fits that bill perfectly.

Them Too

The comedy buddy thriller is a strange conglomeration of film genres that’s not easy to pull off. It has to balance all three formats – comedy, action-thriller, and buddy movie – and each of the three aspects has to work. The best example was one of the first: 1976’s Silver Streak, directed by Arthur Hiller and starring (together for the first but not the last time) Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. The element that’s usually shortchanged in these films is the comedy. There are plenty of action-thriller buddy movies that have a comedic element to them; the Lethal Weapon series would be a prime example. However, the comedy is more incidental than intentional, with nothing in the vein of the classic scene of Pryor coaching Wilder to be black. Shane Black, the writer of the first Lethal Weapon, has tried to accomplish the trifecta often, recently with The Good Guys. His most successful attempt, though, would have to be 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer.

One regular piece of the puzzle with these films is the female lead/romantic interest who’s beautiful, and often an excellent actress, but who’s function is usually to be in danger rather than handle things herself. In Silver Streak it was Jill Clayburgh, and Michelle Monaghan played the role in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. It’s fitting that in the era of #MeToo, we now have The Spy Who Dumped Me, which flips the roles.

Audrey (Mila Kunis) is trying to get over her boyfriend Drew (Justin Theroux) who ended their relationship via text message. Her best friend Morgan (Kate McKinnon) has taken her out with other friends to the watering hole where she first met Drew a year earlier. In an alcohol induced buzz, they decide to burn the items Drew left at Audrey’s apartment. Audrey texts Drew about their plans, only to have Drew respond immediately asking her not to do that. The next morning, he sneaks into her apartment from the balcony to take back a cheap trophy, telling Audrey he must get it to a contact at a restaurant in Vienna. But then everything goes to hell and Drew’s killed. Audrey and Morgan are taken into custody by CIA agent Duffer (Hasan Minhaj) and MI-6 agent Sebastian (Sam Heughan). Audrey and Morgan manage to escape and decide to carry out Drew’s instructions themselves.

The chemistry between Kunis and McKinnon creates a symbiotic relationship that enhances both performances. Kunis is freer to indulger her comedic chops, while McKinnon, who often lets her humor run wild, is more focused and grounded, though just as funny. With the male version of the buddy comedy, the tension is often in how they learn to work together. With Kunis and McKinnon, it’s how they can support each other to survive the thriller portion of the plot.

Director Susanna Fogel, who co-wrote the screenplay with David Iserson (The New Girl, Mr. Robot), does the action aspect of the story with skill, including a wonderful opening sequence that establishes Justin Theroux’s character. Then she can slip in physical comedy moment such as when Kunis and McKinnon, escaping pursuers, hijack a Jaguar only to be defeated by the manual transmission. Anyone from the States who’s spent time in Europe can relate.

There’s some fun work in the supporting cast as well, including Sam Heughan (the hunk of a Scottish rebel on “Outlander”) who’s thrust into the blond love interest role, and Gillian Anderson as the ice queen head of MI-6. As a femme fatale – heavy emphasis on the fatale – Ukrainian actress Ivanna Sakhno provides one of the more blatant heavies in the film, though there are plenty of bad guys to go around.

The movie does earn its R rating, and not simply because of the action element. The title is, of course, a twist of the Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, and early on Fogel has a shot that spoofs the iconic Bond poster for For Your Eyes Only. You can put it down to turnabout being fair play after all the objectification of women in films over the years. The Spy Who Dumped Me isn’t high art. It aims at the adrenal gland as well as the funny bone, and it manages to hit both.

Sandpaper Required

You’ve likely heard the quote, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” but fewer people have heard how the line ends: “that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” The film industry believes in imitation as a business model. If a style or genre of film worked once, they assume it will work a dozen more times. Currently, thanks to the success of The Hangover and Bridesmaids, there’s a flow of R-rated comedies coming out of Hollywood. We get Neighbors, Office Christmas Party, and Fist Fight, among many others. Currently, the movie on the marquee is Rough Night.

Rough is right. The movie veers wildly from farce to gross-out comedy to action, with a script that seems more concerned about checking all the usual boxes. Sex? Check. Drug use? Check. Australian friend? Check. Director Lucia Aniello co-wrote the script with Paul W. Downs, the pair having worked together on the TV series “Broad City” and the mini-series “Time Traveling Bong.” I’d say the writing is cartoonish, except cartoons usually do comedy better.

The plot, such as it is, concerns four college friends reuniting for a bride’s night out. Jess (Scarlett Johansson) is about to marry Peter (screenwriter Downs) and Jess’ college roommate Alice (Jillian Bell) has organized a trip to Miami to celebrate. Also invited are their two best friends from college, Blair (Zoe Kravitz) and Frankie (Ilana Glazer), as well as Jess’ friend from Australia, Pippa (Kate McKinnon). The writers substitute stereotypes for characters: Jess is a hapless political candidate that no one really supports, Alice is the NFF (needy fat friend), Blair’s a hard-driving career woman, Frankie’s a liberal organizer in flannel shirt and jeans, and Pippa is Rebel Wilson.

After a coke-fueled trip to a nightclub, the women return to the house they’re borrowing. Frankie has ordered a male stripper from Craig’s List, and when a handsome though surly guy comes to the door, she invites him in. The guy does a rough dance, but grosses Jess out. Alice calls out that it’s her turn and leaps into the guy’s lap, sending him falling backwards so he hits his head against the fireplace and dies.

Paul calls Jess from his bachelor party, a pretentious evening of wine-tasting, and she almost confesses what happened before the phone’s grabbed from her hand and smashed. Paul (of course) assumes Jess is breaking up with him. Worse, he listens to his friends when they recommend he act like the former female astronaut who drove from Houston to Florida wearing adult diapers so she didn’t have to stop to confront a rival. (Apparently the writers didn’t remember the woman did it to murder her rival and then get back to Houston fast enough to establish an alibi. They convinced themselves the visuals would be funny. They aren’t.)

What follows is pretty much cobbled together from other films (The Trouble With Harry, Weekend at Bernie’s, Ruthless People, and others) while the women do everything they shouldn’t in the situation. The best part of this pastiche is Kate McKinnon, though she’ll likely be roasted on the barbee in Australia for her accent. On the other hand, ScarJo is miscast. One subplot has Ty Burrell and an unrecognizable Demi Moore as oversexed neighbors, a trope meant to titillate but that is just tedious.

The plot twists might as well be accompanied by flashing lights and blaring horns – subtlety is not something the script aspires to accomplish. And it twists itself into a pretzel to work out a happy ending. But probably the best way to sum up the movie is that there’s a long tag at the end of the credits to tie up a plot point, but I’d long before given up caring to pay attention.

Rough Night could definitely use sandpaper on its rough edges.