Review: A Mind-Bending Thrill Ride, ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ Is Well Worth the Price of Admission
Everything Everywhere All at Once opened wide this past weekend in the U.S.
Ambitious and mind-bending, Everything Everywhere All at Once is a cinematic breath of fresh air, with Michelle Yeoh showing off her full repertoire as an A-list actress. Filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, or “The Daniels”, take some massive swings here that connect more times than not. Their boldness, combined with the unparalleled skills of Yeoh, make this movie work in an incredible way for the audience. As you sit down to watch, you expect a movie of massive meta proportions, but I’m not sure anything fully prepares viewers for the full “meta force” coming their way. It works wonderfully, but I also expect it will come as sensory overload for some.
The movie stars Michelle Yeoh, playing Evelyn Wang; a frustrated woman weighed down by a vast amount of unmet potential, trapped in (what she feels is) a stale and unfulfilling marriage with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) and a daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu), whom she is growing distant from — all while desperately trying to hold together the family’s laundromat business. When she and her family meet with an IRS agent (Jamie Lee Curtis) as they cling to their dying business, Evelyn is thrust into the midst of a multiversal war. Her husband Waymond, or rather an iteration of Waymond from another universe, hurriedly tells her of the plot to destroy the multiverse by the rogue Jobu Tupaki. He believes this iteration of Evelyn is the only one with the capability to stop the raging villain.
This felt like a full circle movie for Yeoh. Her prowess as an action star was on full and glorious display, yes. But she is so much more in this movie. A powerful and poised movie icon, a perturbed chef, and even a queer woman with… hot dog fingers. Yes, I said hot dog fingers. She delivers an incredibly nuanced performance, forcing you to reflect on the “should have or would have” moments of your own life. Our main Evelyn is not a character you will agree with (or particularly like) the entire time. Instead, she’s the one who leads us on a path of self-discovery and understanding while balancing the regret one often finds later in life. Yeoh leads us on this journey with a true display of her exceptionalism.
Yeoh isn’t alone in a cast full of stars, and the blessing of seeing James Hong, now 93 years old, continuing to light up the theater must be mentioned. As storied an actor still living, he delivers his typical enriching levels of humor laced with some serious moments of suspension. He’s taking people out with his wheelchair and delivering nasty one-liners to unsuspecting listeners.
While Yeoh’s performance was exceptional, and there is enough star power throughout the cast to keep you completely engaged, the movie itself could have been a bit more concise; particularly in the first act. With so much expository information jam-packed into a short time frame, it can feel a bit overwhelming for the audience, taking you out of the movie for a bit. However, it reels you right back in with wicked humor and a surprising amount of emotional appeal (I never thought rocks would make me laugh and cry).
It would be negligent of me not to mention the visual appeal of the production. Costume Designer Shirley Kurate deserves some special recognition with this one; there are some truly nutty outfits I adored. The absurdity in some of them, particularly with Stephanie Hsu’s character, displays the self-awareness this movie has as the absurd meta feature it is. A movie like this doesn’t work without a costume designer who effortlessly gets the audience to believe everything they are seeing — Kurate has a true work of art here.
Overall, Everything Everywhere All at Once is a thrill ride I didn’t know I needed. I hope people go out and watch it to show that new ideas like this can work. With all of its wicked humor, rapidly changing environments, and action-packed story, it still delivers an improbable punch of self-reflection. Michelle Yeoh is a master of her craft, and she puts this mastery on full display for all to see. Some may call Everything Everywhere All at Once exhausting. While it will take a lot out of you, it pours much more back in return.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is playing in theaters now in the United States, with international distribution plans still largely unclear.
Tyler Bradshaw is a Florida social services coordinator with a passion for movies and filmmaking. While The Empire Strikes Back is his favorite movie all time some other favorites include Seven Samurai, Little Women (2019) and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He has an always growing list of movies he needs to see with David Lynch being his current favorite director. He loves to engage in thought-provoking conversations about his favorite movies.
