Co-directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Everything Everywhere All At Once is a relentlessly entertaining, hilarious parody of the nonstop kinetics and overused “multiverse” concepts of recent comic book and action movies. Although it’s heavy on its cartoonish, Sam Raimi-esque mayhem, the consistent likability and humanity make the film peculiarly uplifting. This science fiction/kung fu hybrid glories in over-the-top silliness but, ultimately, it’s a good-natured story about grappling with late middle age.
Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) stars as harried working mom Evelyn Wang, who’s barraged with existential dilemmas and annoyances: the laundromat she co-owns with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) is failing, and he’s having serious doubts about their marriage. Their daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu), can barely stand her mom. And her surly, estranged father, Gong Gong (James Hong), is visiting from China. During a meeting with stiff-necked IRS bureaucrat Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis), Evelyn finds herself drawn into a battle spanning multiple universes that alters her mundane existence and reveals her own extraordinary, untapped abilities.
Once it gets going, Everything Everywhere All At Once continually ups the ante with unpredictability and nonsensical humor at a furious pace. Highlights along the way include a farcical reworking of the “Dawn of Man” sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film’s loony tone is exemplified by the characters’ arcane arsenal in their many kung fu melees, where weapons range from a fanny pack to a Pomeranian.
Everything’s success is largely due to its cast, which shines not only in main roles, but also as their characters’ various incarnations intermingling throughout alternate universes. Yeoh deftly combines vulnerability, athletics, and comic skill in her winning character(s). Returning from a nearly 20-year acting hiatus, Quan is outstanding as Waymond. For viewers who grew up watching Quan as Data in The Goonies or Indiana Jones’ sidekick Short Round, his return is like a reunion with a dear childhood friend. Quan doesn’t disappoint: He’s a natural on camera, and his nerdy charm belies his martial arts expertise. Curtis dives headfirst—almost literally—into the frumpy, sour Deirdre. And as Gong Gong, prolific character actor Hong is still killing it in his 90s. It’s a pleasure seeing this movie stalwart in such a big, meaty role.
Directors Kwan and Scheinert designed Everything Everywhere All At Once for audiences with tiny attention spans, but they work within this frantic form playfully enough that even viewers who hate high-speed, stylized gimmickry can enjoy it. It isn’t deep, nor does it aspire to be, but it mercifully lacks the sermonizing, preciousness, and nihilism that have spoiled other recent movies. It’s unpredictable, funny, engaging, risqué, goofy, and just plain fun in ways that few movies are. Within its pandemonium lurks what will likely be the most enjoyable movie of this season.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
R, 140 minutes
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Violet Crown Cinema