Some of the musical sequences are... odder than the others.
The only reason for 'Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite' is Eddie Izzard. Oh, and to illustrate what happens when you drop acid.
Around the time Max gets enlisted, the plot takes a backseat. It's easier to think of the movie as a series of connected music videos than a story.
The "Let It Be" sequence's meaning isn't explicitly stated, but it juxtaposes both Lucy and Jojo's reasons for coming to New York - Jojo's brother was killed by police in the 1967 Detroit Riots, and Lucy's boyfriend was killed in Vietnam.
Who aside from hardcore Beatles fans had heard Hold Me Tight before this movie came out?
The movie's arrangement of With a Little Help From My Friends starts out aping the Beatles', but shifts halfway through to the Joe Cocker version.
Critical Dissonance: It received mixed reviews from critics, who gave it a 53% on Rotten Tomatoes, in contrast though, audiences on the other hand were far more positive towards it, giving it a 82%.
Crowning Music of Awesome: Say what you will about the plot, but the Beatles covers in the film are impressive.
Jude and Max being reunited. Max had spent most of the second act physically and mentally broken after his experiences in Vietnam. After Jude is deported, Max recuperates while Jude is in England. "Hey Jude" is played during the montage of Jude returning the US legally, and the "Judy! Judy! Judy!" part of the song is Max lighting up with excitement when he sees his friend again at the airport. Their bro-hug is the sweetest thing.
At the end of the movie, during the refrain of 'All You Need Is Love', Jude looks up and sees Lucy standing on the opposite roof tearing up and smiling at him while Max sings 'She loves you yeah, yeah yeah'. Squee.
"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" might just be the most homoerotic scene in any movie ever. The army recruiters get awfully handsy while singing a song originally about sexual obsession and lust to a bunch of half-naked young men, as Prudence is gayngstfully singing about desiring Sadie.
Jude and Max are very close throughout the film, especially if you listen to the soundtrack version of "With A Little Help From My Friends." It's a duet.
Spiritual Successor: A few critics referred to this film as "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band done right." — the two films are both Jukebox Musicals that prominently feature the music of The Beatles despite the Fab Four themselves not making an appearance (more understandably in this film's case, considering it was released after the deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison) and feature an emphasis on surreal visuals, albeit this film has a more serious and artistic mood, with Lonely Hearts Club Band being much Denser and Wackier by comparison.
Win Back the Crowd: In contrast with the first attempt at executing a Beatles Jukebox Musical with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was a notorious critical and commercial failure, the overall reaction to this film from audiences was pretty positive. Somewhat unusually, most seem to agree that Across the Universe didn't do any one thing differently to Lonely Hearts Club Band — other than having a somewhat more focused narrative — to make it a better film, and that it was simply a case of this film being far better-executed in every way compared to its spiritual predecessor.
The Woobie: Everyone, but special mention goes to Prudence.
