OnScreen Review: "Everything Everywhere All At Once"
Ken Jones, Chief Film Critic
From the team that brought you Daniel Radcliffe as a farting corpse, Daniels’ (as directing dup Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert call themselves) second feature length film delivers the goods. Everything Everywhere All At Once is their follow-up to Swiss Army Man and it every more unique and audacious than its predecessor. I had high expectations for this film just based on the trailer alone; oftentimes that can result in disappointing viewing experience just as frequently as it can deliver. Everything Everywhere All At Once exceeded my expectations.
Yeoh’s Evelyn is juggling a lot of balls. She is trying to maintain the laundromat she runs with her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), smooth over some rough patches in her relationship with her daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu), and prepare a birthday party for her aging father, Gong Gong (James Hong). Oh, and on top of all that they are looking to expand their laundry business while trying to deal with the embodiment of IRS bureaucracy in the form of Jamie Lee Curtis’ Deidre (Deirdre Beaubeirdra). In the midst of all of this mess, Evelyn is caught up in an interdimensional adventure by people who believe she is the one (The One?) to defeat a growing evil that is threatening the multiple universes, and she must connect to other versions of herself in order to prevail.
Anyone who has seen Swiss Army Man will know that the Daniels bring a certain gonzo energy to their films. It is more of the same this time, if not more so than in Swiss Army Man. Evelyn’s exposure to the multiverse creates “cracks” between the universes and she gets to experience other versions of herself and the lives she’s not lived because of the decisions she has made.
They take a creative approach to the concept of a multiverse here, with characters being able to use a handheld device to access the skills of a nearby version of themselves in the multiverse to do complete a task or do hand to hand combat. Think of it like Neo downloading kung-fu in The Matrix. In fact, The Matrix is something of an important touchpoint for this movie, as the scene at the IRS where she is told about the multiverse has strong similarities to the moment that Neo first talks to Morpheus on the phone when he is trying to escape from his office. The only thing that may be a barrier to some people with this movie is that it can be a bit confusing to follow at times, I’m not entirely sure I followed it all myself, but it made sense enough to me to still be enjoyable and not be lost in the plot. It is the kind of film that will reward repeat viewings.
Daniels wear their influences on their sleeve here. Not just The Matrix, for obvious reasons, but influences ranging from Pixar to Stanley Kubrick to Wong Kar-Wai are on display and spoofed in the most hilarious ways. There is even a bit of Edgar Wright energy to some of the scenes that callback to earlier scenes in the film. Even the fights scenes, which are utterly bonkers, are inspired and creative.
The multiverse is already becoming the big new thing in Hollywood, with Marvel leaning hard into it with the post-Endgame MCU content. Daniels dive headlong into the multiverse concept here, with a seemingly ordinary laundromat owner in the form of Michelle Yeoh. Yeoh is a world-famous actress who, though not totally typecast, is mostly known for martial arts films and a handful of dramatic roles. Here, she gets to flex her comedic chops alongside her already well-established talents. I think it would be great if this ends up being the film she is best known for when all is said and done. She gives an outstanding performance that I’ve never seen from her before.
As her husband, Quan is not so quietly the beating heart of this film. Yes, Quan is Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Data from The Goonies. This is one of his first acting performances in nearly 20 years and he really nails the part, getting to play different variations of Waymond. Despite a strain on their marriage from their circumstances, he has a simple, pure love and devotion for his family and Quan’s almost matter-of-fact exclamation of lines in moments of action and distress are note perfect and funny in their own right. It’s a delight to see him back. Stephanie Hsu also deserves high praise for her performance as their daughter, giving a very natural and assured performance in what may be the character with the most variation and outlandishly absurd elements in her multiverse personas.
In addition to the high-concept sci-fi premise of the film, it also has a lot of emotional weight to it as well, something that really surprised me. It done an outstanding job of talking about generational differences among immigrant families in a lighthearted but balances way. I think this film would make a very interesting pairing with the recently released Pixar film Turning Red. But while the mother-daughter dynamic is important and central to the story here, it also about the relationship (or lack thereof) between Evelyn and her father. And also, with her husband; while she is called upon to fight, her husband fights in his own way.
There is a lot I want to say about this movie, but the less you know about this movie going in, the better. Films like Everything Everywhere All At Once are the reasons I go to see movies. They’re the cinematic high that you know you are seeing something special as it is happening, and it puts a dumb, silly grin on your face as you marvel at the creativity, the audacity, and the execution of vision realized on screen. It is just the right level of weird that I want from my movies; a bold and entertaining film that is easily the leader in the clubhouse for Best Film of 2022 for me. Something is really going to have to blow my socks off to be more delighted by a movie than I was with this one. The bar has been set for the rest of the year. You’ve got eight months to change my mind, Hollywood. Show me what you got.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars