REVIEW: Everything Everywhere All at Once
I think the awesome title of Everything Everywhere All at Once sums this film up pretty well. On the surface it can definitely look and feel like the mashed-up fever dream of a lunatic – or in this case lunatics, in the form of writers and directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (AKA ‘Daniels’).
One thing is for certain, like Daniels’ first film, Swiss Army Man, you’ve never seen a movie like this before – and you probably never will again. In simple terms, this is the story about a Chinese family on the brink of disaster. They are potentially losing their business, the mother, Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), is estranged from her queer daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu), and the father, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), has divorce papers in hand.
Just as the family is about to fall to pieces, the real craziness begins. Evelyn, Joy and Waymond from multiple alternate dimensions show up to not only try to save the family, but also the multi-verse itself, which is in danger from an alternate, super-villainous Joy, named Jobu Tupaki. Insane chaos ensues.
Michelle Yeoh (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) shines in this film, in all of her variations – including a rock. (Yeah, she’s that good!) James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China) also appears as Evelyn’s father. And if you think you recognize Ke Huy Quan (as Evelyn’s husband), you’re right. He’s “Short Round” from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and “Data” from The Goonies (1985). Jamie Lee Curtis is also fantastic as a curmudgeonly tax collector (with some smooth kung fu moves.)
The overwhelming pitch and pace of this film can be annoying at times, which is usually not a good thing when one is looking to be entertained, and the family squabbling in the film can be particularly tiresome. But this is my only (very minor) gripe with the movie and I really can’t wait to watch it again.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is about how the simple and maybe even insignificant decisions we make can come to haunt the rest of our lives… Or is it about how those decisions can turn us into super-powered martial arts masters…? Maybe its moral is somewhere in-between. In the end it is about a family struggling to save itself from itself… Or maybe, it’s all about how kindness and love are the only things that can save us. You’ll have to figure it out for yourself.
