I want to pitch you an idea for a movie. My film would be about a Chinese-American woman named Evelyn Wang who runs a struggling laundromat that is being audited by the IRS. While managing this laundromat Evelyn also has to keep her family together, dealing with a tough-to-please father, a hapless yet good-natured husband pondering divorce, and a daughter she relentlessly criticizes and cannot fully understand. In order to save her business and her family, Evelyn must learn to grow and change as a person and a mother.
I can’t blame you if what I described doesn’t sound like the most interesting film, or like something that you would want to see. While I adore independent family dramas, their typical box office returns indicate that their audience is limited. And yet Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) manages to use this seemingly boring premise as the foundation for one of the most bonkers, heartfelt, action-packed films that I have seen in a while, if ever. While Evelyn is managing her business and family turmoil she is contacted by a man from another universe, who says that she must learn to connect with versions of herself across the multiverse to defeat an evil force seeking chaos and destruction. Suddenly the film becomes something for any viewer to enjoy, featuring everything from excellently choreographed fight sequences to mind-numbing graphics to lewd jokes about butt plugs. It does this all while maintaining its identity as a family drama by exploring the tensions within the Wang family, staying true to its title like no film before it.
Pop culture has recently become fixated on notions of a multiverse, in no small part due to Marvel films such as Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) and the upcoming Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness (2022). This deluge of films and television shows examining the multiverse has already made the concept feel worn out, like there was nothing left to explore. But this film has injected new life into the multiverse concept, making it feel fresh and invigorating. The idea of being able to tap into the memories, abilities, and lives of alternate versions of yourself throughout the multiverse is ingenious and less hamfisted than how accessing the multiverse is portrayed in Doctor Strange (2016). While it took me a couple minutes to get my bearings, particularly how accessing an alternate version of yourself works, the film acknowledges this and periodically slows in the beginning to help lost viewers adjust. Even Evelyn hilariously says “you did a bad job explaining” to the man trying to describe multiverse travel to her so that he has to go into more detail. This is exposition done right: enough information is given to the audience so they can understand what is happening, but never too much that it comes at the cost of the action or the story’s momentum.
Directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, known collectively as “Daniels,” are true movie nerds and try to stuff in homages to as many genres as possible. There’s the raunchy comedy elements such as slapping a security guard with giant dildos that directors such as Judd Apatow would enjoy, yet also heartfelt, intimate scenes between Evelyn and her husband (and occasionally Deirdre, an IRS agent) that distinctly feel like romantic comedy. Without spoiling too much, the scenes between Evelyn and her daughter Joy make for one of the best coming-of-age films I’ve ever seen. The absurd technology and exploration of theoretical science would feel at home in a science-fiction film, and I believe Stanley Kubrick would appreciate the reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). The fight sequences—personally my favorite element of the film—honor the wuxia and xianxia genres of Chinese martial arts films, while adding some of Daniels’ own flair. Despite the breakneck pace, Daniels often opts for clean and continuous shots, making it easy for viewers to follow the action. I ask that the Russo brothers, who produced this film, take notes and deliver them to Marvel, which frequently struggles to competently edit its fight scenes and decides rapid cutting is the answer (hint: it isn’t).
Of course, the film’s balancing act of genres wouldn’t work without its stellar cast, which is more than up to the task. Michelle Yeoh, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses in any genre, gives a moving, hysterical performance as Evelyn Wang. Yeoh appears genuinely clumsy and distant at the beginning of the film, but beautifully communicates a wiser, more loving Evelyn near the end of the film. It makes sense that the woman who played the cold, unforgiving matriarch in Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and the passionate while simultaneously restrained warrior in the wuxia film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) could deliver such a deft performance. Ke Huy Quan, who portrays Evelyn’s husband Waymond, gives an equally brilliant performance, believably vaulting from perky comic relief to a martial arts expert who can take down security guards with only a fanny pack. Despite my love for the entire cast, Quan is often the scene stealer and never failed to draw a laugh from me. It is impossible to tell that Quan took a near 20-year break from acting, and hopefully this role will come to redefine his career. Quan should be known as more than just Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) or Data from The Goonies (1985). Relative newcomer Stephanie Hsu is also amazing and I loved her exasperated, occasionally unhinged, acting as Evelyn’s long-suffering daughter Joy. Hsu makes a strong argument for her inclusion in future projects. Side characters such as the IRS agent Deirdre and laundromat customer “Big Nose,” portrayed by the incomparable Jamie Lee Curtis and the gifted comedienne Jenny Slate respectively, are wonderful additions and make an already dynamic cast only better. It’s a shame that the Academy Awards tend to ignore both Asian/Asian-American actors as well as action comedy films, because a movie that features such complex performances and masterful filmmaking would win a plethora of awards otherwise. I’m already expressing outrage that Michelle Yeoh wasn’t nominated for Best Actress and Ke Huy Quan wasn’t nominated for Best Supporting Actor, even though the year isn’t finished and the nominees are far from being announced.
Amazingly, the film never lets spectacle outweigh the narrative, allowing its cast to unleash their full acting potential. For a film that devotes a not-insignificant amount of time to parodying Ratatouille (2007), it always goes back to the core story of a family struggling to listen to one another. Having known what it is like to be in such a family, I started bawling near the end of the film.
It’s difficult to say much more about this film without spoiling it, and I would regret ruining it for anyone. This is a film that has to be experienced to be fully understood, as to describe it doesn’t do it justice. Buy a ticket and support A24, which has quickly become the gold-standard company for producing wildly creative, quality films. I can’t stress enough how much of a good time you’ll have seeing this film!
Do you agree or disagree with my opinion of Everything Everywhere All At Once? Do you think it did the multiverse concept justice, or do you think another movie explored the concept better? Let me know in the comments below, and see some similar films I’ve recommended on my BingeRoom account!