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“For die-hard fans of the Fab Four — and anyone who was touched by the magic of the ’60s — the film is a strange, nostalgic, suitably outrageous ode to a very real revolution in consciousness.” – William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

This is a very interesting and entertaining movie that is worth the experience just for the musical arrangements of 33 Beatles’ songs. As one who was coming of age in that era – with the draft, Viet Nam, and student rebellion and protest – this is a nostalgic journey back through time. In fact that essentially sums up the basic story line. A 20 something blue collar Brit comes to America to locate his Father who had had an affair with his Mother leaving her with a child in the oven. Unfortunately Pop is a Janitor at Princeton. While there he runs into a “Richie Rich” type and they establish a friendship that results in our Brit attending the typical dysfunctional upper class Thanksgiving dinner where he meets the sister. Of course our college boy has no ambition and as a result goes on an extended road trip to the Village in NYC taking along his new found friend. The sister soon follows, a love relationship ensues, she becomes politically active, brother gets drafted, and our illegal alien Brit is an artistic pacifist.

It’s a loosely bound plot. More a menagerie of music videos than story lines. Very well done and the arrangements are by far more superior than the originals – from a musical standpoint. This ain’t rock and roll, it is a compendium of functional lyrics set to real music – probably more suited now to those who grew up in that era and are becoming more placid and traditional.

Although this is a 2 hour and 11 minute movie, it actually goes too fast. It is definitely worth the price of admission just to hear the arrangement of “Let it Be” and the accompanying video clips.

A great stroll down memory lane and actually a pretty good overview of the attitude and mores of late 60’s and early 70’s.