Movie Review: Everything Everywhere All at Once

 

"IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO DESCRIBE!!!!" has become the de facto answer when people are asked to explain the premise of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's (aka Daniels) Everything Everywhere All at Once. As boring and maddening of an answer that is, it's the most logical one possible. Not only would trying to provide some kind of summary of the plot quickly turn into a needlessly long exercise, but it would also spoil the wide array of tricks and surprises this film has up its sleeves.

What Daniels cooked up here is a wide-spanning cinematic journey that needs to be seen in order to be truly believed and understood. All of the martial arts sequences that have been at the center of the marketing campaign are zany, borderline touching homages to the works of Stephen Chow and Jackie Chan. There's a playful sense of absurdity present that leads to a bunch of bizarre, ridiculous jokes that will likely delight fans of cult comedies like Wet Hot American Summer, Kung Pow!: Enter the Fist or last year's Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. It's an overdue showcase for the diverse gifts of a group of actors that have long been ignored or boxed in by the constraints of typecasting (Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, James Wong, Jamie Lee Curtis) as well as a proper introduction to an up-and-comer (Stephanie Hsu) who had never got a sizable enough role to show what she's really made of until now. And most impressively once all the manic dust settles, Everything Everywhere All at Once reveals itself to be a moving reflection on cutting through all of the noise this cruel, bizarre and weird planet emits to discover what truly matters in life. Sitting back and connecting the dots with this one is really fun and it's frankly unbelievable that Daniels were able to cover so much emotional/genre territory without compromising the film's cohesiveness or ability to execute its larger narrative goals.           

While the mental fatigue brought on by the constant universe jumping caused me to enjoy this film a bit less than most people, the originality, audacity, hilarity and beauty that occupies the heart of Everything Everywhere All at Once makes it a singular project that will be dazzling the weirdos of the world for generations to come. Using concepts like parallel universes and absurdist humor to tell what eventually reveals itself to be a very simple human story is a really inspired choice and a big win for cinema maximalists everywhere. Strange, unique creatives make movies more exciting and Everything Everywhere All at Once ensures that Daniels will be get many more opportunities to provide their brand of excitement to the masses.    

Grade: B+