Review – Across the Universe

Youth of today, be warned. Back in the 80s we fought the war against The Beatles so future generations wouldn’t have to endure crap like this. Actually, the music itself is the least annoying element of this production. On the opposite end of the spectrum, it’s hard to pick the most annoying part of the picture. Perhaps it’s the names. Every time a new character is introduced, her or his name is instantly recognizable as a sub-reference to a Beatles song, which more often than not ends up performed before the movie runs its awful course. Or maybe it’s the celebrity cameos. I don’t mind watching Bono humiliate himself, but I could richly have done without Eddie Izzard’s valiant yet ill-fated attempt to add a sense of humor to the production. And that’s the movie’s biggest failing: the grim-faced seriousness of the whole thing. One of the few charms The Beatles possessed was an element of play and fun. But what we get here is the determined certainty of the inexperienced that their problems are graver than anything that’s come before. The very fact that this is a movie set in the 60s but clearly designed to parallel contemporary messes should put lie to that particular myth. And in the end the 60s thing is the closest this comes to self-justification. If movie-makers 40 years ago had possessed this technology, this is the movie they no doubt would have made. That’s not much of a recommendation. See if desperate