Included in the best of lists of a number of individual critics and societies, and towards the top for that matter, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is a truly unique movie that functions as a homage to a number of iconic movies of the past while embracing its story's chaos in the most entertaining fashion.
Evelyn Wang is a Chinese immigrant and the definite head of her family, as much as the boss of the laundromat she operates with her husband Raymond. Despite her non-stop efforts, however, her life is in shambles. Her daughter, Joy, is afraid of revealing that her female friend is actually her girlfriend, and the tension between them is palpable; her father, Gong Gong, who has just arrived in the US, is as judgemental of her as ever, something that actually also dictates her relationship with her own daughter. Furthermore, their business is being audited by the IRS and the results are not exactly good, while after a rather eventful meeting with Curtis, the agent in charge of their case, Raymond presents her with divorce papers. Right about that time, another version of him from a parallel universe appears, informing Evelyn that her current life is only one in a series of parallel universes she also exists in, and even more so, that she now has to face a number of enemies, but most of all Jobu Tupaki, her arch nemesis who turns out to be her daughter. Expectedly, and in a fashion that would make “Matrix” look like a stroll in the part script-wise, all hell breaks loose.
Trying to make complete sense of everything that is happening and symbolized in the movie is probably a futile business, with the narrative chaos emerging as both the most major trait and the biggest flaw of the movie. To begin with, the trip down to the cinematic memory lane definitely works here, inducing the title with an almost permanent sense of nostalgia, as apart from the “The Matrix”, Michelle Yeo's career, particularly in martial arts movies is extensively referenced, as much as Jackie Chan's action comedies, Japanese curios in the style of “Funky Forest” not to mention the recent Marvel series, “Legion”. Intensifying this aspect is also the cast, with the presence of Jamie Lee Curtis as agent Curtis, James Hong as Gong Gong and of course, Yeoh herself as Evelyn adding even more nostalgia here.
Furthermore, “the Daniels” as they are currently known by, take full advantage of the many parallel universes in order to present their character in very different colors, mostly through the prism of action, comedy, and eventually drama. In that fashion, a number of the action scenes are truly impressive to watch, with the job done by action choreographers Andy and Brian Le, the stunts, and the visual effects being truly top notch. The different types of humor are also hilarious here, starting with the IRS agent becoming a villain as much as the security guys of the building, and continuing with a number of one-liners Yeoh utters at well-timed moments and segment like the one with the sausage fingers or the one only featuring rocks whose “words” are presented through narration and text on screen. At the same time, the directors also manage to deal with a number of social issues, concerning immigration, the generational gap, family, relationships and motherhood among others.
It is somewhere here, however, that the movie begins to falter, as the dramatic turn towards the end appears particularly cheesy, moving far away from the non-PC aesthetics of the movie that far, in a desperate effort to reconcile everyone and show that no one is the villain in this life, just victims of circumstances, in a rather Hollywood-esque, and essentially as political correct as possible approach. Even more, after a point, the number of all the ideas, notions, comments and universes here become somewhat tiring, to the point that the film starts looking like a neverending collage of ideas instead of a compact narrative, with the 135 minutes of its duration definitely not helping in that regard.
What saves the title in the end is firstly the acting, with Michelle Yeoh being amazing to watch, and Stephanie Hsu as Joy and Jobu following close behind in an equally impressive performance, while Ke Huy Quan as Raymond and Jamie Lee Curtis round up the excellent job done in acting and casting. Secondly, is the amazing job done in the editing by Paul Rogers, not only on the very fitting frantic pace, but also on the occasional sudden cuts that become both part of the story and the style of humor here, and one of the main ingredients of the tripping the title offers. Lastly, the combination of FX with Amelia Brooke's art direction and Larkin Seiple's cinematography result in a true eye candy that also highlights, through the amount of different settings, how much work was involved in the movie.
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” has a lot to like, and its place on the various lists around the world is justified, but for this particular writer, the movie could also be titled “Too Much All At Once”, which is the main reason not featuring on my ‘best of' list.
