The multiverse thing is definitely becoming, well, a thing. When we first saw the trailer for Everything Everywhere All at Once, we couldn’t decide whether it was insane or brilliant to follow up Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with a film based on the same concept of parallel universes — but made on a much smaller budget. We’re going with BRILLIANT because the risk was TOTALLY worth it in this case.
In Everything Everywhere All at Once, Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn Wang, the tired owner of a Simi Valley, California laundrette with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan). Tensions are high as Evelyn juggles a Chinese New Year’s Eve party, her father’s (James Hong) visit from China, and her daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu), has brought her girlfriend Becky (Tallie Medel) along, already bitter that her mother is about to shove her back in the closet. To make matters worse, Evelyn is unaware that Waymond has filed for divorce, and the laundrette is being investigated by IRS agent Diedre (Jamie Lee Curtis) who’s accusing the business of fraud.
Just as Evelyn is beginning to feel overwhelmed by her life, a version of Waymond from the ‘Alphaverse’ takes over her husband’s body and tells her that she is not only one of many Evelyns, but she is the key to saving all reality from being destroyed by a powerful agent of chaos known as Jobu Tupaki. This version of Evelyn has fared the worst of all the others who exist, branching off from every decision she’s ever made. That means she’s the only one with untapped potential. Evelyn is soon thrust into a multiverse-hopping adventure that forces her to contemplate everything she thought she knew about her life, failures, and love for her family.
Almost all the action in Everything Everywhere All at Once is set in an IRS office building, where Evelyn must fight with IRS agents, a swarm of security guards, and quite possibly everyone she’s ever met. The set designers successfully created a seemingly infinite cubicle-filled office, where everything from a paper trimmer blade to butt plug-shaped awards become totally acceptable weapons in a battle to save the universe.
As far as the acting and action go, A-Games were indeed brought by the entire cast. We’ve been fans of Michelle Yeoh since her early Hong Kong action star days in Heroic Trio and Wing Chun, and Evelyn is all of Yeoh’s most iconic characters crammed into a single role, and she gives arguably the best performance of her illustrious career. She’s a slapstick comedian, a romantic lead, and a badass action hero all rolled into one. To say that the film is a showcase for her talent is an understatement.
The same can be said for Key Huy Quan, who played Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Data in The Goonies and a host of other roles, only to find out the hard way how little Hollywood values Asian actors’ accomplishments. But since the industry seems to be changing for the better, his return to acting should be just the beginning.
James Hong is an absolute LEGEND, once again giving an unforgettable performance as Evelyn’s overbearing father, which was no surprise to anyone over here. Stephanie Hsu has been slowly but surely making her mark in Hollywood, and her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once is definitely gonna leave a mark to remember.
Jamie Lee Curtis gives a hysterical performance as stuffy IRS inspector Deirdre. Several wildly different variants of Deirdre appear in the film, and Curtis plays every single one of them as a distinctive character.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is a fantastic blend of comedy, heartbreak, wholesomeness, and brilliantly choreographed fight scenes. Even when things become sad, they throw in some comedy that doesn’t take away from the moment, but helps alleviate getting hit right in the feels a bit, especially when the plot may hit close to home for a lot of people.
With all this said, while Marvel executives huddle around conference tables, weaving franchises together in a grand display of corporate synergy, directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert have, in Everything Everywhere All at Once, created a bizarre, gloriously acted, tearfully joyful, thought-provoking, beautiful film that truly understands what the infinite might look like. It is a film that those who appreciate good cinema (and even those who don’t) will want to see again and again.
