Everything, Everywhere, All Out Once is one of the best movies I’ve seen all year! If you want a movie that’s refreshing, original, and genuinely funny, you will love this film.
Everything, Everywhere, All At Once is about a Chinese American family that owns a struggling laundromat. The story is centered around Evelyn Wang, her husband Waymond, and their daughter Joy. As tensions arise at home due to an IRS audit and a potential divorce, Evelyn gets a surprise visit from Waymond of an alternate universe. He explains that many parallel universes exist and he needs her help to stop evil forces. In the “multi-verse”, we find out what Evelyn’s life would have been if she would have taken different paths in life.
After seeing the trailer, you may come into this movie with expectations, but be ready to have them all shattered. This film is like a cross between The Matrix, Parasite, and The Mask. An odd combination, but this movie is super weird in the best of ways.
The writer/director duo, Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, aka the Daniels and previously known for Swiss Army Man, don’t hold back with how far they take this action-packed, genre-bending, sci-fi comedy. If you’ve seen Swiss Army Man, then you’ll know what I mean when I say the Daniels have a gift for taking absurd ideas and making them work. Their exploration of the multi-verse in Everything, Everywhere, All At Once has no limits or rules. It’s completely inventive and their creativity is a unique experience that keeps the audience on their toes.
The best thing about this movie are the laughs. You will leave this movie feeling every type of emotion. I even got teary-eyed at the end. For me, comedies have become mundane in the past decade and it’s rare treat when a film is both unpredictable and whole-heartedly funny.
This movie is extremely relatable. What pulled at my heart strings the most is how personal the story is. Growing up in a first-generation Asian American household, the mother/daughter relationship between Evelyn and Joy resonated with me on multiple levels.
While Evelyn tends to make the wrong decisions and say the wrong things, Michelle Yeoh’s portrayal of the character makes her extremely likable and keeps the audience rooting her. Michelle Yeoh, an internationally known actress known for critically acclaimed films like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, James Bond Tomorrow Never Dies, and Crazy Rich Asians. In this film, you see her in a new light you haven’t seen her previous films.
Overall, the the entire cast deserves a standing ovation. Jamie Lee Curtis is almost unrecognizable as the tax auditor and it’s exciting to see Ke Huy Quan back on the big screen since not having acted in about 20 years.
A24 never seems to disappoint. They continue to release films with “out-of-the-box” storytelling, giving rising directors an opportunity to showcase what mainstream production companies are lacking.
I very much enjoyed this movie, having seen it twice already since it’s release.
Go see this film. You will not regret it.
