At times brain-melting, but mostly annoying, the conceit of Julie Taymor's Beatles' musical Across the Universe wears off after about an hour, or maybe less.

The best bits are when there's some action going on during the songs. Early on, one of the most stunning was the mournful lament of I Want to Hold You Hand by a lesbian cheerleader, singing as football players smashed into each other. With a Little Help from My Friends becomes a fratboy party song. I've Just Seen a Face is recast as a Celtic high-stepper set in bowling alley. I Want You (She's So Heavy) is perhaps the best staged number, set in an army recruitment selection center, with Uncle Sam coming to life out of his posters to sing the title, while a division of identical lantern-jawed sergeants put their recruits through the paces, putting them in boxes and dragging them on the floor.

Oh, and there's another great scene involving five Selma Hayeks in a nurse's outfit, dispensing shots in Happiness is a Warm Gun.

The story is just too cute, with a sad sack Liverpudlian named Jude jumping ship in the States, meeting a party boy named Max, and then hooking up with Max's sister, Lucy. Prudence is the aforementioned cheerleader. There's a Janis Joplinesque singer named Sadie and Hendrixian guitarist named Jojo. Bono has a weird turn as psychedelic guru Dr. Robert, while Eddie Izzard takes perhaps the most liberties with the music as the mind-altering ringmaster Mr. Kite. Max is drafted, Lucy becomes an activist and the nilhist artist Jude draws stawberries. Prudence, who came in through the bathroom window then locks herself in the bathroom, and then everybody sings Dear Prudence.

Get it? Everybody has a name from a Beatles' song.

Most of the time, the references are much too literal. Like Max and his silver hammer. Clang clang.

Oh, please (please me).

When it was all over, I could hardly wait to pull out my iPod and play some real Beatles. Ah. That's better.

Across the Universe is playing at the Siam cinema in Siam Square. This spectacle is worth seeing on the big screen, and the Siam has one of the best in town aside from the Scala.