Everything Everywhere All At Once is the antidote to a popular grievance among cinephiles: original, mid-budget films are dying, unceremoniously sacrificed to Almighty IP (the current boogeyman is Marvel). The doomsayers aren’t entirely wrong, but where they’re entirely right is singling out Everything Everywhere All At Once as an example of what original, high-concept adventures should look like. The film is flavorful and distinct, offering more than just another take on the film industry’s latest obsession (the multiverse!); it uses its high concept to explore deeply humanistic fears and presents a beautiful marriage between creative, bombastic sequences and earnest sentimentality.
Written and directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Schienert (billed as “Daniels”), the minds behind 2016’s similarly off-the-wall Swiss Army Man, the story follows Evelyn (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon‘s Michelle Yeoh) and her strained relationships with her husband, daughter, and father. The grounded family drama quickly escalates into a multiversal explosion. Despite the ambitious scope, Daniels never lose focus of the emotional conflict driving the relationships and story. It’s increasingly rare to see filmmakers tell such an expansive story on so little a literal canvas, allowing their budget restraints to foster creativity. One critic praised the film’s expansive conceptual tapestry, “tak(ing) place across multiple universes and all of space and time but…also, effectively, a two-location movie where the filmmakers just endlessly redress the IRS office and the laundromat.”
This multiversal reimagining requires much from its iconic cast, and they all deliver. Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, and a supporting Jamie Lee Curtis all shine with ample opportunity to display their acting versatility, constantly weaving in and out of disparate personalities and personas. (Also, is it clear to anyone else that Ke Huy Quan, who you likely remember as Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, is the heir apparent to that franchise? Quan is charming, immensely likeable, and a proven martial artist. They’re so intent on not letting Dr. Jones retire when the real solution to continuing that brand is staring them in the face. Call me, Lucasfilm!)
Everything Everywhere All At Once may sound overwhelming, but the film is surprisingly accessible and deeply entertaining. It takes such creative advantage of the possibilities presented by a multiversal story (far weirder and sillier than anything Marvel or DC have teased). It successfully juggles deeply funny slapstick, wonderful visuals, and engaging action choreography—yet couched within the hilarious, inventive sequences and gags are profoundly simple ideas that left me dumbstruck by how earnestly stated they are. Some viewers might shrug off the film’s most heartfelt expressions. For example, one of the many messages championed by the film is—in the face of absolute nihilism and a meaningless universe—the importance of simple kindness. This revelation might seem obvious or cliched, but as Community’s Jeff Winger once explained, “The biggest truths aren’t original. The truth is ketchup. It’s Jim Belushi. Its job isn’t to blow our minds. It’s to be within reach….” Everything Everywhere All At Once delivers its thesis with such refreshing originality and singular voice that the reminder of obvious truths about kindness and connection land with profound emphasis. In our current IP-driven cinematic landscape, Everything Everywhere All At Once is a special, singular film that you owe to yourself to experience.
Everything Everywhere All At Once is currently playing in theaters. It runs 149 minutes and is rated R for some violence, sexual material and language.
