Across the Universe in 131 minutes

Last night I saw the movie Across the Universe with some friends. Having seen a trailer for the movie about six months ago--a Beatles-fueled anti-war movie set in the Veitnam era--I was very excited to see this movie. Unfortunately, I realized that even a little help from Lennon & McCartney and Co., is not enough to float a whole musical.

And that's what it is: a musical, which was a bit of a surprise to me. Being a fan of good musicals, and being a major fan of Beatles songs, I was still on board for what I was about to see. Unfortunately, the movie felt like a patchwork of music videos put together by UCLA film students; equal parts "Dreamgirls," "Born on the 4th of July," and "High School Musical."

The film's premise is clumsy and falls under the weight of its own aspirations. Jim Sturgess's Jude character has a distinctive McCartney-esque look to him, and hails from Liverpool. When Jude decides to cross the pond to find his war-vet father, he befriends Max, and falls in love with Max's sister, Lucy, who--after her first boyfriend is killed in Vietnam--becomes a fervent anti-war protestor. Along the way, this threesome pick up more friends, conscpicuously named Sadie, Prudence, JoJo, etc...., and the hits keep coming.

The movie has many interesting cameos, including Joe Cocker (raspy and awesome as ever, playing a bum and a pimp,) Bono (playing a guru LSD shaman character), and Salma Hayak as a sultry nurse easily stirring the Florence Nightingale effect in her patients. I lost my patience when Eddie Izzard appeared in a tired, trippy drug scene that just got weirder and weirder.

The imagery isn't subtle, including the most heavy-handed image of the movie: a host of soldiers carrying Lady Liberty during, arguably the best Beatles song ever, "She's So Heavy."

Don't get me wrong, the music is as awesome as Beatles songs are capable of, "She's So Heavy," being no exception. But if you want to get anything out of this movie, buy the soundtrack and stay at home. John may have said "All you need is Love," but this film proves that you may need a little bit more than that... at least if you want to get through a long film.