EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE by Urizon

 

  I have seen a lot of good movies over the last like 6 months. Spider-Man: No Way Home was probably one of the best Marvel and Spider-Man movies to be released yet. Sonic 2 was such a fun, enjoyable experience. The Batman provided a realistic, dark and amazing new take on the character. Not to mention, we had Eternals, Turning Red. Tick Tick Boom, Ghostbusters Afterlife and so many more. The bar for movies has gotten pretty high. While I have loved all of those movies, I think I can safely say that Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, might just be the best movie I have seen in recent months.

   Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything, Everywhere, All At Once stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, James Hong and Jamie Lee Curtis. The movie centers around Evelyn (Yeoh), a Chinese immigrant who owns a laundromat with her husband Waymond (Quan). As she is getting older, Evelyn is realizing she is quite happy with the life she has, leading to rifts forming between her and Waymond and their daughter Joy (Hsu). This negativity only grows as Evelyn’s father Gong Gong (Hong) must come live with them due to his declining health. On top of that, they are being audited by the IRS and are I danger of losing the laundromat. While going to the laundromat to meet their IRS agent (Curtis), Waymond seems to become almost possessed, though it is revealed to be by a different universe’s Waymond. He says that the multiverse is in danger and that something is coming that will threaten them all. Only Evelyn can stop this threat, and she can do this by accessing different versions of herself from across the multiverse to acquire their skills. Will she be able to step up and save the world, or will this be the end of life as they know it?

   Usually when a movie is over 2 hours long, I have a hard time going back to watch it again. Like, I enjoyed The Batman, but I don’t know if I could sit through it again for a little while. I really want to see this movie again soon. The only thing that makes me hesitate a little is because of the emotional toll it places on me.

   This movie throws a lot at you. You get action, romance, comedy, drama, fantasy, even a little horror. Yet despite all of that, it works so well. The action that you get is stunning. It really gives the feel of older martial arts films. They are well performed and extremely creative. Seeing how some of these alternate universes’ lives can give her these abilities is fascinating. In one moment, a gas is thrown into a room Evelyn is hiding out in, so she is able to go to a different universe where she is a singer and has a larger lung capacity so she can hold her breath longer. It provides many unique scenarios that you wouldn’t ordinarily think of.

    I didn’t expect the comedy to be so great in this film. Like, it looked funny from what I saw with the trailers, but I didn’t expect it to hit as much as it did. I can’t really think of any jokes that didn’t land. Even ones that happened during some more serious moments really worked well. It ranged a bit from some more usual comedic moments to some really, really absurd ideas. For example, one of the universes was one where everyone had hot dogs for fingers. Completely ridiculous and absurd, even a but gross at times, yet still hilarious.

   The most surprising aspect of the film though was just how much heart it had. Like I went into this movie expecting a funny action movie with a unique concept. What I hadn’t expected was to tear up multiple times in the movie from how emotional it was. While at surface level, it is just as I originally thought, a funny, yet unique action movie. It is when you get into the story is what elevates things to the next level.

   More and more films recently have been getting into some much deeper concepts, mainly the concept of generational trauma. It really became known with Disney’s Encanto, then continuing with Pixar’s Turning Red and now has come full force with Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. Admittedly it is hard to talk too much about the plot without giving away major spoilers, but I will say what I can. A big issue in the film deals with Evelyn’s relationship with her father Gong Gong. Since she came to America with Waymond to start a new life, Gong Gong had pretty much disowned his daughter. He sees her life as a failure which has made things extremely hard on her. This then reflects on how she treats her daughter, Joy. One of the biggest points of contention coming from Evelyn being not particularly proud of Joy having a girlfriend. She constantly says how she has no problem with it, yet introduces Joy’s girlfriend to Gong Gong as her best friend and makes excuses as to why Joy is gay. Plus, she constantly criticizes Joy for every small thing. All of this builds up and ties into the plot wonderfully before paying off in a beautiful way in the end. Even with knowing about how the film would go, it still made me very emotional while watching it.

   It helps that the acting in this was all just excellent. I have nothing negative to say about any of it honestly. They all did such a great job. I wanted to think if one actor in particular stood out more than the others, or if anyone lacked anything special, but no. They all did great. Maybe Stephanie Hsu as Joy. She had a lot of range and did a great job with her performances, no matter what the scene demanded of her. Side note, the outfits for her character were just amazing. Very creative and unique, just like the rest of the movie. I also like what Ke Huy Quan brought to the role of Waymond. He was certainly comedic, and did great with switching between this main universe’s Waymond and the others, but what really was well done was just the love he had for Evelyn. The rift between the two gets to the point where he wants to get a divorce, yet even during that moment, you can tell that he desperately wishes there was another way. Multiple times throughout the movie, he does everything possible to help Evelyn and shows such love and devotion to her. It was really touching.

   This is one of those movies that becomes very hard to talk about without giving away spoilers. If I had to say anything though, if you have seen the trailer and are okay with the wackiness of it, I can’t recommend enough that you check out this movie. It is truly one that I have nothing negative to say about. Almost to the point that it becomes hard to talk about. Honestly, all I can say is to give this movie a shot. Besides just being a fun, entertaining movie, it truly has such a touching, heartfelt story beneath all of that. I think especially if you liked the theme and messages from Turning Red, you will really appreciate what is being said in Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. It is a truly amazing, wild ride from start to finish, and one that will surely be loved.