REVIEW: Everything Everywhere All at Once

This is perhaps the most interesting movie I’ve seen this year.

At its core, this movie is about relationships and family, as well as a variety of intriguing “what-if” scenarios that contort Evelyn’s mind like a pretzel. It absolutely delivers on those points.

It follows Evelyn (played by the charming and always amazing Michelle Yeoh) and her dysfunctional life, when she gets pulled into a multiversal strife that threatens to upend all sense of reality—all while those around her generally remain clueless on the matter and struggle to deal with their strained family dynamic and a troubled laundromat business.

Yeoh’s performance is exquisite, delivering not only with her lines but with body language that plays an integral part in delivering the heart of this film. So too is the performance by Jamie Lee Curtis as Deirdre, as well as Ke Huy Quan who delivers a touching outing as Evelyn’s husband, Waymond. The daughter, Eleanor (Stephanie Hsu), was also a strong addition to the film.

While the trippy and absurd nature of this film’s premise are generally assets, at times it felt like the underlying focus on mending family troubles was overshadowed by the absolute silliness sandwiched between tender moments. It sure was fun, though.

Likewise, the film struggled to explain a complex set of multiversal rules in a quick manner. While Evelyn served as an avatar for the audience (retaining a sense of disbelief throughout most of the film), there were still moments where those explanations seemed to have logic holes and serve as distractions. Then again, it’s a movie built on a fictional premise, so who’s to say the movie was off-base in the science stuff?

This has a terrific story with astounding cinematography and visual elements (save for the raccoon—if you know, you know). It was also really well directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

I certainly plan to see this movie again.

Bottom line: If you like unique films and stories that bring in a cacophony of odd visual elements, this one is for you. 9/10