ask-mark.com

After dinner at Greek Village Taverna last night, Chris and I went to see Across the Universe with Tim and Sam. We had been anticipating the movie’s release since we saw the first teaser trailers; the in-laws are big fans for The Beatles. For those of you who don’t know, AtU is a new movie musical featuring The Beatles’ music. Despite what seems like a great premise, I did not come out of the theater with entirely positive thoughts about the movie.

The story is about a group of friends from various walks of life that come to live together in New York City during the 60s. At the center of it all is the love story of Jude, a Brit from the dockyards of Liverpool who journeys to America to find his father, and Lucy, a girl-next-door turned anti-war protester. The individual stories are great, but they aren’t woven together as seamlessly as I would have liked. Perhaps that is part of the point: the characters remain separate despite being together. If that was the vision of the writers and director, then consider this movie mission accomplished.

Parts of the story appeared to have been present only to toss in the more recognizable hits, such as the story of Prudence. The development of her character was subtle to the point of lacking in its entirety. You find out early on that she is a lesbian as she sings I Want to Hold Your Hand while ogling a fellow cheerleader. It comes up again as she pines for Sadie, her landlord singer, and once more during a psychedelic trip to the middle of nowhere. It seems as though the only reason that Prudence was in the movie at all was to have someone sing I Want to Hold Your Hand.

Then there were parts of the story that were well done, like the central love story. Despite the predictable pattern of their story, the music was effectively applied to Jude and Lucy to drive the story. The same goes for the supporting love story of Sadie and her Hendrix-esque guitarist JoJo. The relationship between Sadie and JoJo foreshadow what happens to Jude and Lucy’s relationship.

Now, the title of my post is a reference to the great cameos in the film. Bono plays Dr. Robert, a hippie author and psychedelic drug user. Bono sings I am the Walrus before taking the characters on a journey across the country. Eddie Izzard plays Mr. Kite, ringmaster of a circus and freakshow. Izzard sings Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite (obviously) as his circus runs wild around him. Salma Hayek rounds out the cameos as a nurse in the VA hospital. Hayek supports Max when he sings Happiness Is a Warm Gun in the hospital.

While the movie was entertaining overall, there were definitely parts where I was wondered "WTF?" The music and the acting were great, but the story could have used some more editing. With the prices of first run movie tickets these days, I would recommend waiting for the DVD release of this one.