YMMV / Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)

• Anvilicious: Corporate greed and focusing on money over creativity when it comes to music are bad, bad, horrible, terrible, and bad, mmkay? Expect this to be hammered in whenever F.V.B.'s Catchphrase comes up, in between multiple other instances of it getting hammered in.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • "Fixing a Hole" seems to be in the film solely so George Burns, who otherwise only narrates, can have a song. There's no attempt to connect it to anything plot-related, and it isn't diegetic either.
  • The scene where SPLHCB go up in a hot air balloon, and it's implied that a plane crashed into it (we see it from the plane's point of view and then an explosion), and the band is now on the plane heading towards Hollywood. What?
  • The final Deus ex Machina appears to have no explanation, nor is one asked or expected by the characters.
  • You can make a compelling argument that this entire movie is this.
• Ending Fatigue: The whole business with Strawberry's death means that the final quarter of the film seriously drags.
• Evil Is Cool: What else could it be when the Big Bad is Aerosmith???
• Ham and Cheese:
  • Frankie Howerd is clearly having a hell of a time as Mr. Mustard.
  • Steve Martin's also having plenty of fun with the role of Doctor Maxwell.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Steve Martin's role here (as a psychotic doctor of dubious qualifications who gets his own Villain Song, in the form of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer") could easily be seen as an audition for his now-iconic role in Little Shop of Horrors.
• Ho Yay: During the "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" sequence, Strawberry is supposed to be despairing over the idea that Billy could be cheating on her with Lucy, but the cuts between her wide-eyed stare and the Diamonds performing make it seem more like Lucy is her Closet Key than anything.
• Magnificent Bastard: The mysterious, money loving, Future Villain Band (FVB) are the secret masterminds behind the events of the plot. Taking advantage of the Lonely Hearts Club Band's absence from Heartland, FVB has Mean Mr. Mustard steal Sgt. Pepper's magic instruments and distribute them among their associates. With the instruments in hand, FVB begins enacting a plan to Take Over the World. Having Dr. Maxwell perform procedures to turn rich elderly people young and healthy, FVB then sends the patients to Father Sun to be brainwashed into an army for the band. When confronted by the Lonely Hearts Club Band, FVB, revealed to be played by Aerosmith, perform an epic version of "Come Together" while poised to conquer the world with their newly completed army.
• Narm: This movie is filled with it. And we wouldn't have it any other way.
• Nightmare Fuel: Mr. Mustard's fembots are incredibly disturbing. The fact that their biggest moment is singing "She's Leaving Home" does not help.
• Older Than They Think: It wasn't the first attempt by The Bee Gees to star in a musical comedy fantasy film. That was Cucumber Castle, a 1970 Made-for-TV Movie, made when they were reduced to a Barry-Maurice duo while Robin briefly attempted a solo career. Even that had some echoes of The Beatles, since, it included Help!'s Eleanor Bron in the cast, and like Magical Mystery Tour, it debuted on the BBC on Boxing Day, then the soundtrack album became better-known than the film.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Earth, Wind & Fire and Aerosmith only get one song/scene apiece, yet they're the best-regarded of the bunch. "Got to Get You Into My Life" has become one of EWF's signature pieces; some fans feel they perform it much better than The Beatles did.
  • Steve Martin's take on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is a highlight.
• So Bad, It's Good: Some sections of the film do have their fans – Steve Martin's take on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" (lyrics not matching aside), Earth, Wind & Fire's "Got To Get You Into My Life", and the opening credits montage showing the original Sgt. Pepper and his band adapting to different musical styles from World War I to The '70s, for instance.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: Aerosmith and Earth, Wind & Fire give fantastic musical performances despite said performances being bit parts in a mediocre musical.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Okay, the film's actual storyline is essentially just an Excuse Plot, but many pointed to the far better reception that Across the Universe (2007) got years later that the film's basic concept was actually a perfectly sound one, just let down by the execution.^note (Granted, this movie did suffer from a backlash due to not actually featuring any of the Beatles, all of whom were still alive when it was released. Across the Universe didn't suffer this problem so much, due to being released after the deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison, as well as getting Approval of God from Paul McCartney, and later Ringo Starr)

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