Film Reviews

Across the Universe

• Rating:
• Director: Julie Taymor.
• Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs.
• Details: U / 131 mins (15A).

A musical inspired by the tunes of The Beatles sounds like a great idea - Abba managed it with Mamma Mia, so surely Across The Universe couldn't go wrong, right? Wrong. Across The Universe is a useless exercise and seems to only exist for no other reason than curiosity - what could they do with The Beatles? Turns out not a lot. Set in the '60s, the story follows Liverpudlian dockworker Jude (Sturgess) as he leaves his native city and travels to America in search of his father. There he meets Max (Anderson), a rich student, and the two move into a New York apartment owned by musician Sadie (Fuchs). While Max decides what to do when he's drafted, his pretty sister Lucy (Wood) comes to stay and she and Jude fall in love. Oh, a cheerleader called Prudence and Jimi Hendrix-esque guitarist called Jo-Jo turn up at some stage, too. The plot is paper thin, and in actuality seems an afterthought, stapled together by little pop videos of crap cover versions. There are a couple of nice sequences, but on the whole Across The Universe doesn't work and would've been at least fun if it weren't so downbeat. Now, a musical based on The Stones - that would be something. At least it'd have balls.

Review by Gavin Burke