Rating: R
Runtime: 2 hours, 19 minutes
Directors: Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Quick Impressions:
This movie has been out all year, so I originally planned not to write a review. But then I wrote a review of Babylon and decided, “You know, I’m just in a review writing mood.”
I feel like I’ve been living Everything Everywhere All at Once this year. All year I’ve been telling myself, “I’m a terrible mother. I never spend any quality time with my children. They’re having a horrible childhood.” Then made a photo calendar (like I do every year) and realized, “Wait! We’ve actually done a ton of stuff this year!” I barely remember any of it! I also feel like an inadequate writer, but I have written two books this year. Granted, I’m supposed to be finishing a third (actually marketable) book, and I continue to find social interactions (in person and online) overwhelming. When you get to the final scenes of this movie, though, you’ll see how I feel like I’m experiencing real life lately. It’s so hard to keep up with what’s going on! But I guess that’s good. If your brain wants to diminish, you have to force it to expand instead. (Right?) (We’ll see!)
This film spoke to me in a number of ways. I can easily identify with both Michelle Yeoh’s protagonist and her frustrated daughter. I’m still having conflict with my mother, and she’s been dead for two years. The weird part is, we were getting along just fine when she died. But since then, I’ve thought of a lot of grievances that need to be redressed. (Shh. It’s all a trick, though. Once she comes back to answer my charges, I’ll say, “Oh never mind about that! But since I have you here, why don’t you just stay…forever…and not be dead?” It’s such an obvious ruse. Even I see through it myself.)
My daughter was sobbing at the end of this movie. She wailed, “I cried like five times!”
Everything about Everything has looked amazing to me for months, and I decided not to watch it mostly because then I’d feel obligated to write a review, and I just couldn’t.
When my daughter was little, and I definitively left grad school without finishing my dissertation, I felt guilty for years. Then we watched Fringe, and I became convinced all the other mes in other worlds had made better choices than I had. I had one nightmare about giving a good presentation in a professor’s class and then meeting her for lunch afterwards. She said to me, “But what do you think I can do for you? You’re not in this world anymore.” I had so many nightmares like that I started slowly reading Dracula right before I fell asleep, so I would have different nightmares.
So what I love the most about this film is the reason Michelle Yeoh’s character is the Evelyn they’re looking for. I laughed out loud in this cackle of demented glee and clapped my hands. I couldn’t believe how much I loved that explanation. I’m sure it’s one a lot of us can relate to.
The Good:
Everything Everywhere All at Once has a clever premise, action I could enjoy, a silly sense of humor, and remarkable heart. It also has a useful moral that can be universally applied but doesn’t feel ridiculously heavy-handed in the delivery. Lately I have been craving (and usually rejecting) morals in fiction. I feel like Ebeneezer Scrooge, hanging off every word that comes at me, like, “Yes, tell me, Spirit.” (And then a more rational part of my brain reminds me, “Sarah, this is a fast-food commercial, it’s not going to tell you the meaning of life.”) More movies and shows than average lately seem so eager to impart the meaning of life, probably because the pandemic was so routine disrupting and traumatizing for everyone on Earth. It’s left us all wanting answers, comfort, edification. The moral at the heart of this is hard to argue with.
I haven’t seen enough Oscar contenders yet to give an informed opinion on who deserves nominations based on strength of performance. But I am a writer, you know, and Ke Huy Quan definitely deserves a Best Supporting Actor nomination based on the strength of his story. (Even I heard that while paying no attention to movies all year.) A child star who gets back into acting after seeing Crazy, Rich Asians, then goes on to co-star in a movie with Michelle Yeoh, one of the stars of that film? Imagine if they both win Oscars! Who wouldn’t love that story? (I would!)
Of course, you can’t listen to me. Last year, I was raving, “Have you noticed that Rita Moreno is a story, just by showing up?” And nobody cared. (Well, I mean, I’m sure they cared about Rita Moreno, but she didn’t win another Oscar—although her previously Oscar winning part did, and she was there applauding.)
I remember watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in the theater when I was five (because the projector ate the film just after the eyeball soup, so we had to come back a different day). I loved Ke Huy Quan as Short Round, a kid having adventures with Indiana Jones (what I wished I could be doing). And I loved The Goonies, too. We watched that a lot with our almost-twenty-year-old when he was little. I’m elated to see Ke Huy Quan start acting again, and in such a great film! His character in this (Waymond) reminds me so much of my husband. He has a better heart than anyone I know. I’d love to see him get nominated for Best Supporting Actor. His performance is good, but I’d be sold based on the story alone.
Michelle Yeoh gives the strongest performance in the film and deserves a Best Actress nomination. I wanted her to get nominated for Crazy, Rich Asians. (I loved that movie!) This showcases a whole range of skills she has. In reality, she’s only one woman living in one universe, but she’s acting across genres in this role. She can sing, “fight,” play intense, emotional scenes, make us laugh with the character’s malapropisms. That last one is pretty difficult. Malapropisms are sometimes more obnoxious than funny. And historically, malapropisms by Asians in film have been an awful racist stereotype and the product of lazy writing. This screenplay is razor sharp and witty (at least based on the lines I hear delivered on screen. I haven’t read it). And Yeoh makes misspeaking so funny in a way that doesn’t 1) make her character a joke or 2) undermine the dramatic power of a scene.
Stephanie Hsu is great as Joy, too. She plays her angsty sarcasm perfectly, especially when it’s undercut by pathos and a longing for connection to her mother. James Hong makes any movie better. (And, of course, the entire core cast plays more than one role.)
Jamie Lee Curtis cracks me up so consistently. She has some great lines, and of course, she’s always good with comedy. I like her because she’ll do anything. There’s no vanity in her self-presentation. She always goes for the laugh. One of my favorite aspects of the movie is that she seems inexorably connected to their family. All these alternate worlds exist, apparently dimensions that open based on human decisions. (That’s the theory I’ve always found compelling, though I’m not a scientist. I know there’s another many worlds hypothesis that’s just like, “Well, there are an infinite number of worlds, so obviously some of them must repeat.” I prefer the idea that we make decisions and split off into another dimension.) So in all these alternate worlds, somehow Jamie Lee Curtis is always lurking very near their family.
Co-written by the co-directors, Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the screenplay definitely deserves some Oscar love. (I didn’t realize the pair co-directed Swiss Army Man. I remember being shocked to learn my daughter was so excited to see that when she was seven.) Some of the dialogue is exceptionally witty. And the premise itself is very clever. You have a parent-child bonding/conflict movie masquerading as a sci-fi adventure. Initially, I thought, “This is just borrowing from The Terminator and The Matrix.” But no, it’s doing something else entirely. The entire existence of Raccoonie is amazing beyond words. From now on, I’ll assume that every time I misspeak, I’m relaying truths from an alternate dimension.
Best Scene Visually:
My husband did not know this had sci-fi/fantasy elements. When Waymond first becomes Alpha Waymond on the surveillance video, my daughter and I were so delighted. My husband was up getting spaghetti. We rewound it for him, and he asked, “So…is this happening in her mind.” And I was like, “No…it’s happening.” But it still looks so cool and unexpected. Ke Huy Quan is particularly good with the transitions between Waymonds. I also really love the rocks. This is an impressive movie visually. The special effects don’t just look cool. They’re integral to the plot.
Jobu Tupaki’s first scene looks like a magic show done inside a kaleidoscope.
Best Action Sequence:
When all the Alphas come and attack Evelyn as Joy and Waymond watch in alarm and confusion is my favorite part of the movie. Stephanie Hsu is very funny in this scene.
Best Scene:
Just before that great action sequence, there’s a moment that completely sold me on the film. I suddenly realized, “Oh, this is not what it’s pretending to be. This is a mother/daughter movie.” In fact, it’s more a parent/child/family movie. But in that scene, I immediately became extremely bloodthirsty, like, “No! This is all a trick! Kill him!” So I guess it’s good to know about myself that under pressure, I will hastily murder my parents!
What I love is the immediate consequence of her actions. Suddenly she’s not fighting one enemy. She’s fighting everyone, an experience well known to middle aged parents, a seeming war on two fronts.
The Negatives:
I don’t find much at fault with this film. The last thirty minutes or so did fill me with anguish. I suppose I can’t blame the movie for my mom being dead. And I should probably take it as a good sign that my daughter sobbed and sobbed and was so touched and moved and loved the movie.
I regret not being able to show this to my mother. She would like it. Maybe my dad would like it. Hmm.
Overall:
I’ve just decided to attempt to watch this movie with my father. He probably would like it. Honestly, I can’t imagine anyone not liking it. The film is funny, fast-paced, action-packed, beautifully shot, well-acted, outside the box, full of surprises, heart, and humor. I’d recommend it to anyone. If you liked Dr. Strange, and you like laundromats, and you have a family, you should like this film.