Anthony's Film Review - Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

This wacky sci-fi adventure will bombard and overwhelm your senses, with pleasant results...

Every now and then, a movie will come along that is very weird and bizarre compared to the usual type of movie. When I say "weird and bizarre," I am referring to things like highly unconventional storylines, genre clashes, and unusual visual presentations. I imagine this can apply to many movies depending on what you subjectively think is weird and bizarre. I'll give you one recent example to explain what I mean: the 2018 movie Sorry to Bother You, which starts out as a comedy about telemarketing before it morphs unexpectedly into a sci-fi satire involving horses and corporate greed. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. Once you understand that, then you will know that the movie I shall review here, Everything Everywhere All at Once, falls along similar lines.

Before diving into its weirdness, let us first ground ourselves in the reality portrayed in the beginning of the movie. Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn Wang, a Chinese American immigrant who frantically runs a laundromat while managing affairs in a stuffy apartment upstairs. Her husband, Waymond (played by Ke Huy Quan), is someone Evelyn orders around a lot, and their daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) is a nontraditional Asian daughter in a same-sex romantic relationship with Becky (Tallie Medel). They are preparing for the arrival of Evelyn's father Gong Gong (James Hong), trying hard not to displease him. At the same time, Evelyn has major tax problems that she must resolve in person with the Internal Revenue Service, specifically with IRS agent Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis).

Now, the weirdness begins. An alternate version of Waymond from another universe appears and tells Evelyn to follow his instructions. She does so and is thrust into an alternate universe, inside a janitor's closet at the IRS building. So here's the situation. There exists numerous alternate universes, each stemming from life choices, big and small, that Evelyn did not make in her lifetime. There is also a villain who wants to destroy all of these universes. The alternate Waymond whom Evelyn meets is leading an effort to stop that villain and its minions, with both sides jumping from one universe to another in a cat-and-mouse chase, and Evelyn may be the only one who can save all of the universes.

This should explain the chaos of the first half of the movie. As everyone is hopping between universes, Evelyn is experiencing the madness of multiple universes (not to reference Marvel Studios's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness). From her perspective, her surroundings change frequently, different versions of the same characters appear in and out of the scene, and physical things could completely change form at any given moment. The audience is made to have the same experience as Evelyn: disoriented, confused with sensory bombardment, and dumbfounded by the sight of nonsensical objects and actions. Take, for example, a bloody fight with large rubber dildos (no kidding).

But eventually, something interesting happens. Evelyn gains control as she embraces a brilliant way to survive her predicaments and fight her adversaries. She can teleport to an alternate universe where she had lived a different life, proceed to actually live that life, and then return to the previous universe as the same regular Evelyn but with an additional skill learned. For instance, by going through her alternate life as a kung fu master, she comes back knowing martial arts, such that the action scene she is in suddenly takes a turn in her favor. Just imagine what skills she could acquire from going through alternate lives as an actress, chef, singer, and many other walks of life. This may be why the alternate Waymond chooses the poor immigrant laundromat Evelyn to be the hero: by failing at everything in her life, she has the potential to learn everything she needs.

When the film gets to the second half, it's no longer about one Evelyn. It's about every version of Evelyn. Because Evelyn has been through all of her alternate lives, she is practically connected to each of those universes. Whatever happens in one universe could now influence the events in another. This is critical as Evelyn comes face to face with the villain, who takes on an alternate form of her daughter Joy. The choices that Evelyn make here will have dramatic consequences for every universe, for better or for worse. It is interesting how this scene parallels the concurrent scene with the immigrant and her Americanized daughter. In fact, this half of the movie is where all of the different Evelyns are shown in quick glimpses, often for less than a second. Again, the focus is every single Evelyn, not just the first one we've seen.

It is observed that this movie presents philosophical themes, like the meaning of life and the best way one should live. If you notice those things and they boost your admiration for this movie, great. For me, I noticed some of that but they were ultimately secondary elements. In the end, I look at Everything Everywhere All at Once as a save-the-universe adventure that makes us experience what the title says. It's ultimately a cinematic experiment in sensory overload that puts us so close to the main character, instead of leaving us to be distant observers. It's one thing to cognitively wrap your head around the concept of multiple parallel universes existing simultaneously. It's another thing to experience seeing and entering all of those universes.

Let me take a moment to compliment the cast. I love all of the performances in this movie, including the supporting roles played by Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu. For Ke Huy Quan, he definitely excels in both martial arts action and comedic acting. It's amazing how his claim to fame was his childhood role in 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and now he's back on the screen decades later. But of course, I save my highest praise for Michelle Yeoh. In this movie, she effectively portrays a wide range of emotions, like frustration, fear, courage, and ultimately love. But it's not just that. Her acting career is something to smile about, whether it's her Hong Kong action movies like Supercop, the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, the Asian romantic martial arts film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, the Asian romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, or her role on the TV series Star Trek: Discovery. Everything Everywhere All at Once marks another high point in Yeoh's career.

All in all, Everything Everywhere All at Once is daringly original and fun. It's a wild ride that throws you around at first, before leaving you satisfied by the end.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Everything Everywhere All at Once, visit the Internet Movie Database.