Where do I even start? A film that is now one of the most-awarded films of all time, Everything Everywhere All at Once was nominated for 11 Oscars and came home with 7 at the 95th Academy Awards. Not to mention several of them are the most prestigious awards at the Oscars; like Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. A film that I doubted, underestimated, and questioned, Everything Everywhere All at Once is everything film should be. For whatever reason, even after hearing all kinds of buzz praising the film after its release, I was like “oh, not another multiverse movie,” after recently viewing the trendy choice of multiversal-travel-following-movies like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse or Avengers: Endgame. But again, my gut failed me.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is a quintessential film of what it means to be human. Our main characters, Evelyn Wang, played by Michelle Yeoh, and her husband Waymond, played by Ke Huy Quan, begin with problems that only humans have; love and taxes. The two Chinese American immigrants are having IRS issues with their laundromat and have a slowly decaying marriage that seems unsalvageable, and lead a mostly uneventful and unadventurous life. But, Evelyn’s world is quickly flipped upside down when Waymond’s body is suddenly possessed by the “Alphaverse” version of himself—a universe where “verse-jumping” was created, which enables people to access the skills, memories, and bodies of their parallel-universe selves—and he informs Evelyn that an evil multiversal version of her daughter Joy, played by Stephanie Hsu, is trying to end life as we know it. Evelyn is sent into a frenzy of bizarre parallel universes, fighting outlandish foes and jumping from universe to universe trying to understand how to finish a fight that she did not start. At the same time, she is trying to juggle her own issues back in her own universe, where she’s trying to save her laundromat from the IRS, attempting to understand her daughter’s sexuality and her new lesbian relationship, and wondering why Waymond is filing for a divorce.
Now I don’t want to give any other information because the less you know the better. This weird, random, complicated, yet original plot seems so silly and unredeemed, but it is anything but. A film that weighs the entire weight of life itself, the universe, and what it means to be alive can often come across as corny, arrogant, or just straight-up wrong. But, Everything Everywhere All at Once accomplishes everything it wants to and more. Even with all of its heavy messages, I believe this film was almost purely created for one scene. But for the sake of the viewing experience, I don’t want to tell you about it. You may not even believe the purpose of the film is from the scene I believe, but that’s the beauty of Everything Everywhere All at Once, there’s so much to love. From the amazing performances by every lead to the cinematography to the emotional and career stakes of the actors to the costume design, to its purpose, this movie really is everything.
I know I didn’t say much (for a reason), but if I didn’t convince you, here is the trailer.
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Thanks for giving a preview on “Everything Everywhere All at Once”. It sounds like a unique and thought-provoking film that explores the human experience in a unexpected way. I appreciate that you didn’t give away too much about the plot, as it’s always nice to go into a movie with a fresh perspective. I’ll definitely consider checking it out, especially given its impressive number of Oscar wins and nominations.
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” was an amazing movie. I only recently watched this movie, but somehow managed to dodge every spoiler simply because of how crazy and unbelievable the movie is. However, it all relies on the common theme that everyone is human, and we all feel emotions. I think critiques that say that this movie is too ‘over the top’ do not understand that this is exactly what it is supposed to be like. I mean it IS everything, everywhere, all at once, so it is supposed to be confusing, crazy, weird. I think the movie was great! And I would recommend it to everyone.