Review: The Daniels Unleash All Manner of Multi-verse Chaos in ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’
“In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.”
Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) lives the life she never envisioned. Nearly two decades ago she immigrated to America at the request of her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) who promised a new life in a coin-operated laundromat. Since then, she has become entangled in a tax audit, a failing marriage, and an estrangement from her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), all of which happen to culminate on the same day. Her life is in disarray, which makes the arrival of a multi-dimensional version of her husband all the more chaotic.
Hailing from the “Alphaverse,” this version of Waymond claims that Evelyn is capable of untold powers and is destined to challenge the great and powerful Jobu Tupaki, a multi-verse manipulator dead set on consolidating control over all dimensions. Hesitant and confused, Evelyn finds herself at the center of a high stakes escapade. Though maybe a chance for renewal exists somewhere in all these different dimensions. For Evelyn, when her life exists presently as the “worst version” of herself, this just might be her chance to change all the things wrong in her life.
Director duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert make good on the potential of the multi-verse by unleashing all manner of wacky and zany possibilities in Everything Everywhere All at Once. One moment you’re bearing witness to Michell Yeoh’s pinky kung-fu prowess, the next you’re watching a Ratatouille-inspired chef be controlled by a raccoon that sounds oddly like Randy Newman. Or perhaps you’re trying to grasp your head around a dimension where everyone has hot dog fingers only to be undercut by another universe where all life exists as inanimate objects. There is no end to the creative absurdity laid forth, and one of the film’s greatest achievements is how it progressively antes itself with one gag after another, constantly outdoing itself with something more insane than the last. As the title suggests, the film is quite literally everything and everywhere all at once, whip-sawing audiences back and forth with its overwhelming manic anarchy and energy (kudos to editor Paul Rogers for doing much of the heavy lifting).
Everything Everywhere All at Once thrives in this band of chaotic comedy, but every now and then, the Daniels layer in an emotional beat to remind you this film has a heart. Some of these moments work, others not so much. When you’re caught up in the humor of it all, it’s occasionally difficult to align yourself on the emotional wavelength the film wants you to be. There are a number of interpersonal relationships orbiting Evelyn — her father, her daughter, her husband — and each one has their own theme. How the film allocates its attention to each, and the sporadic nature of that attention, can be a mixed bag. However, after a while, I stopped tracking each and every narrative thread. Instead, I found it much more rewarding to embrace the multi-dimensional everything bagel in front of me and enjoy the outlandish chaos the Daniels orchestrated.
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