Everything Everywhere all at Once; Grade: B+
Everything Everywhere All at Once tells a story about a woman named Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) whom runs a small business holding down a local laundry station. Evelyn is dealing with a lot on her plate in terms of being handed divorce papers by her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), dealing with an auditor Deirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis) which apparently Evelyn and Raymond has potential trouble with keeping up to date with their financial records, while also dealing with issues with her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu). On top of everything going on with Evelyn’s life: She’s now acquainted with an unexpected visitor, whom claims he’s from another universe. The visitor warns Evelyn that the world is in great danger, as she must stop this evil presence from altering all the multiverses including lives in which Evelyn could’ve had if she made different decisions in the past. Witness an adventure of a lifetime traveling across universe to universe.
I feel this review is actually perfectly timed, considering my personal situation at the hand… My mind is literally all over the place, just like Evelyn. Anyhow I didn’t watch a single trailer, however given the images A24 has released on their Instagram page as well as the poster.. It appears A24 is stepping up to the superhero game. Fear not for those whom actually watch A24 to get away from the whole superhero frenzy: This isn’t a superhero film, however it does involve with multiverses as it’s become a unusual popular trend in cinema recently, heck Spider-Man: No Way Home is considered a film of that magnitude and it made 800+ mill.
While I don’t care for the topic at hand in terms of Multiverses: Of course I was intrigued with what A24 had to offer with this new creation of theirs, that has involvement with that topic at hand. Everything Everywhere All at Once viewing experience can be described as one word: Bonkers. When the credits roll: It almost felt as if I got off an extremely hectic roller coaster ride, as I finally gotten a chance to relax and breathe… This film is just insanity, however it’s insanity in which offers a lot of quality entertainment.
Everything Everywhere All at Once honestly felt like an old fashion parody, where the film is tending to make fun of the type of films we often see in terms of multiverse and of course superhero films. However it still maintains to produce an actual working narrative that actually has a meaningful message along with it. The film felt like it was self aware that the concept of multiverses is bizarre, so this film just went bat shit crazy, as it produces MULTIPLE moments that is so freaking goofy, yet it totally works because the topic of this film is goofy so why not let loose and go for it?! Because The Daniels were relentless with their approach: This film is extremely hilarious, as I believe it’s going to take a long time till we see an extremely funny film released this year, the comedy material t’was great. Not only do the jokes land, but more so the situational humor was just out of this world… I mean each and every time one needs to recharge their device, in order to acquire some kind of special power or teleport to a different universe… It almost felt like watching one of them Jackass films, especially when it came to one prop I’m not even going to reveal, you’re going to have to experience it like everyone us, I promise you it’s worth it even though it’s just… Odd.
The film handles the whole multiverse concept oh so well, as it has actually a lot to say. It felt like a deep meaningful reflection for everyone’s lives, that we can all relate too. We’re often too focused on what decisions we didn’t make in our past life, often too focused on where we could be in our lives if things were done differently, as while thinking of all these things it holds us back from actually being grateful for the life we have in the present. Like sure Michelle’s life isn’t perfect, she’s got some problems. But as we go through all of Michelle’s lives in the multiverses… All sides of Michelle has problems of their own. The film truly speaks volumes of the term “Everything Happens for a Reason”... Everything fell in line because it was meant to be, with that being said the current life you have is one that you received the most out of in terms of being whole and blessed. Sometimes you just to have to acknowledge what you have in front of you as believe it or not majority of us, it’s the life many of our other selves wished we had in the first place. Like I said through all the wackiness this film has to offer: It actually is a very meaningful film that I believe it’s going to touch some people, as I felt moved by it, very effective indeed and considering the high end energy this film is… The message is noticed despite all that is happening, which an immense challenge within itself to begin with, well done The Daniels.
Considering the budget of this film: It’s extremely impressive the quality surrounding the production value of this film. The film making t’was tremendous, from visuals, to camera work… It’s a gorgeous looking film, while also capturing the high paced energetic sequences and action sequences oh so well, that even looks a 1,000 times better than the previous Matrix film back in December 2021. The cast all around t’was great as well, delivering entertaining performances really all across the board, as they all had charisma needed for a story like this.
There are a couple issues I have with Everything Everywhere all at Once. There are a fair amount of pacing issues here and there, some with regards in the middle and especially in the end. Some sequences did indeed drag, more so in the third act as I felt the film was going to end multiple times, but it just kept going on and on and on. One of the universes… Though I did laugh at first regarding the joke, after awhile that universe became uninteresting over the course of time, as there wasn’t much to offer really.
I gotta say: This was quite an impressive watch, for one who isn’t considered the target audience for this kind of film. It’s entertaining, hilarious, meaningful, and just a whole lot of F U N. Looking at the current box office numbers: Looks like A24 got themselves a winner here, grossing closer to Midsommar numbers, heck this film on track surpass Midsommar at the box office.
Overall, Everything Everywhere all at Once was a pretty good film. I highly recommend seeing this film, it is definitely worth a trip to the theaters as this film is an experience worth remembering, gather up a group of friends and have a grand time. However be warned: This film is not for everyone, like I said it’s bonkers so be prepared to expect some crazy ass shit while partaking this film. Well done by The Daniels: I’m intrigued to see what else they got up their selves for their next project. -Mitch Smietana