"Yesterday" requires viewers to take quite a few leaps of faith.

First, you have to wholeheartedly buy into the notion that, categorically, the best songs ever written were by the Beatles. They're great songs, to be sure. But in the movie, they are revelatory, tear-jerking Best Songs Ever, no matter the context or who is singing them. It's very high-stakes, but then again, most everything here is high-stakes.

This heightened high-concept magical dramedy presents the idea that a weird electrical blip/solar flare wipes our collective consciousness clean of all traces of the Beatles. Jack (Himesh Patel), a struggling pub musician and busker, is at that moment hit by a bus (thank goodness he's wearing a helmet), totaling his teeth and his bike tire. But somehow, his memory of the Beatles remains magically intact.

He discovers the quirk when his pals get him a guitar. And because "a great guitar deserves a great song," he plays a few bars of the Beatles' "Yesterday," flooring his friends, who wonder when and how he wrote the tune.

Jack's the only person in the world who remembers the band (or so it seems). So, he decides to capitalize on it, sending his career into overdrive. His trajectory to the top is aided by musician Ed Sheeran (playing himself), who is apparently now the world's best songwriter. and his manager, Deborah (Kate McKinnon), who hears Jack's crooning and sees dollar signs.

Directed by Danny Boyle (whose filmography runs from "Trainspotting" to "Slumdog Millionaire") and written by Richard Curtis, the king of the British rom-com ("Love Actually," "Four Weddings and Funeral," "About Time") from a story he created with British TV writer Jack Barth, "Yesterday" is a love story disguised as a high-concept music film.

Jack has friend-zoned his best mate, Ellie (Lily James), and through the Beatles' music and his journey to global superstardom and back, he learns what's really important in life. But with Curtisian flair, Jack of course can't just tell Ellie; he needs to make a grand gesture that puts her in a high-pressure situation: How about the Wembley Stadium Jumbotron for a declaration of love?

Everything in the film is high-concept, high-pressure or high-stakes, and it often feels bizarrely forced. Nothing makes sense: The Rolling Stones exist, but not Coca-Cola. The script wobbles beneath its own weight, but Boyle distracts from the issues with his feverish direction, characteristically throwing everything at the screen and bringing his signature sense of visual dynamism, filled with movement, light and color.

The songs? Great, of course. The story? Strange at best. The characters and aesthetic? Aces. Everyone on screen is just so likable, especially the earnest Patel (best known in this country for TV's "EastEnders"), in a star-making heartthrob turn featuring his crystal-clear singing voice.

Even if this modern fairy tale doesn't hold up on close inspection, the ride is enjoyable.