Everything Everywhere All At Once Movie Review

 by Karl W.

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Written by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Distributed by A24

    It seems that multiverse stories are gaining traction in the past couple of years. Granted, when this is a storyline that the most recent trend of Marvel movies seem to be going down, that doesn't really surprise me. There's always something so interesting about exploring the different and expansive tales that multiverse stories can tell. We even saw part of this with "Spider-Man: No Way Home" last year, or even "Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse" in 2018 (a lot of Spider-Man stories, for that matter). While it is always fun to see different versions of Spider-Man throughout the multiverse coming together and all, it always felt like these types of multiverse stories tread the same ground, really choosing to explore the multiverse on a mostly surface level. Maybe there is more to this type of story than we have really explored. Enter Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, otherwise known as Daniels. They made their directorial debut with the hilarious and touching comedy-drama "Swiss Army Man" in 2016, and while I adore that movie, their next movie would prove to be even more ambitious, with over a decade of planning and researching to truly put together a script that would stand out from other multiverse storylines that were also gaining traction. Now, in 2022, we have the movie, which seems to have gotten mass amounts of critical acclaim and is doing numbers at the box office as it is.

    Yes, I know I'm late to this review. It took me a while to truly review this movie, mostly because a movie so dense with details is really hard to decipher and truly get the full experience from just the first viewing. Everything Everywhere All At Once incorporates so much into a tight package that's a little over 2 hours and explores more than nearly any other multiverse story I think I've ever seen...and in case you can't tell, it's fantastic. Daniels took a concept that has been explored before and truly explored every nook and cranny it could muster, and the movie truly is what it says on the tin. It's everything, everywhere, all at once.

    Propped by some of the best direction of any movie this year, "Everything Everywhere All At Once" is able to weave a narrative of growth and acceptance with some of the most action-packed scenes and moments in cinema this year. The acting also has to be appreciated, with Michelle Yeoh doing a fantastic job as the fish-out-of-water protagonist just trying to get her life together. The film overall boasts some of the finest performances from veterans like James Hong playing the grumpy and demanding Gong Gong, to fresh new faces like Stephanie Hsu playing the daughter Joy in one of the most varied and complicated performances in the movie. Ke Huy Quan runs away with as the MVP of the show as Waymond, the goofy husband of the protagonist who can switch to a more serious demeanor on a dime. The effects and production are also to be appreciated. It's fascinating to see that this movie had a pretty low budget, and while it might not have a lot of CGI or even the best practical effects in the world, the editing, cinematography, and physical acting are all at peak performance here, to the point where I would be shocked if it didn't walk away with at least one Oscar in any of those categories.

    The film centers around Evelyn Quan Wang, a laundromat owner whose life is crumbling around her, as her laundromat is being audited by the IRS, her strict father coming into town from China, her husband attempting to file a divorce, and tensions between her daughter, dealing with her increasing separation from the family and her troubles to really recognize her girlfriend, Becky. However, things get out of hand in a different way as she is sucked into a plot of a being named Jobu Tupaki threatening to destroy the multiverse, as an alternate universe version of her husband, Waymond, tells her that she is the only hope for the multiverse. The first half of this movie centers around this main plot hook as this version of Waymond tries to teach Evelyn how to tap into different versions of herself across the multiverse to combat against this threat, yet it never feels like the film is talking down to you nor does it feel like it's delving too far into exposition. It takes the perfect amount of time explaining the mechanics and rules of this world and the theory of verse-jumping, where our protagonists can take the skills of an alternate universe's version of themselves. This first part of the movie is action packed and suspenseful in all the right places, while also having many a great and even hilarious set piece (including one fight scene involving a rather phallic shaped trophy). 

    While the movie is a thoroughly engaging and fantastic action/sci-fi movie in the first half, that thread continues in the second half, but with an added thread of emotionality that tinges this film. To get into that, we need to get into one of the big themes of this movie: nihilism. The idea that life has no purpose and we're all just going about our lives with no meaning, where anything and everything can happen, but it really holds no meaning. The feeling that everything means nothing. It's a subject that isn't really tackled much in a critical light as our antagonist tries to show Evelyn that viewpoint to get someone, anyone really to get that point of view. After all, with a knowledge of every concept, every lifetime, every possibility, things could easily become mundane...become pointless. The way this film resolves it's message, however, is much more unique and clever than you'd otherwise expect. The solution is that maybe nothing does matter in the end, but what does matter is what happens in the present. For every possibility, there's a new set of problems, but you can't solve all the world's problems, nor can you make anyone happy. Evelyn grew up with an overbearing father, constantly worrying if every decision she made was the right one, and in some instances, maybe they weren't, but they were the ones she made, and the ones she has to live with. However, she learns a lot from those around her, including Waymond, who serves as Evelyn's light through the darkness, and Joy, her daughter whom Evelyn sees part of herself in. In helping her daughter, Evelyn also helps herself.

    Really, there's a lot to this movie that I can talk about, but going into more detail would spoil a lot of the best moments of this movie. Thankfully this is a movie that seems to be doing really well, being one of A24's highest grossing  and most critically acclaimed movies to date. Daniels didn't have to worry about making their multiverse storyline standout, as they accomplished something that makes most other multiverse stories feel pedestrian in comparison. The bar has been set, now it's just a matter of time for others to keep up...that is, if they can.

10/10 (Phenomenal)