Everything Everywhere All At Once delivers exactly what its title promises
Directing duo Daniels follow up Swiss Army Man with the story of a multiplicity of multiverses, with Michelle Yeoh at the center of all of it
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Many a fine 12-year-old wiseass has made this crack at a bagel shop: “Is it really an everything bagel? Are there gummy worms on it? Nine-volt batteries? Dinosaur bones?” It usually ends there. But for the writer-director team known as “Daniels” (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), it’s one of many bonkers gags in Everything Everywhere All At Once that feels like a throwaway at first, then builds with stream-of-consciousness logic into a running joke, and then, even more surprisingly, into something profound.
This maximalist sledgehammer of a film—something of a cross between Cloud Atlas, Enter The Void, Kung Fu Hustle, and a full season of Rick And Morty—has the energy, insanity, and exuberance of Daniels’s DJ Snake and Lil John “Turn Down For What” video and the shock value of their “farting Daniel Radcliffe corpse” movie Swiss Army Man. Hopefully this serves as a warning that it is defiantly not for everyone. For those who revel in chaos, however, this movie is a gift.
The film, which uses the gimmick of jumping between parallel universes to explore, essentially, how to be your best self, is awash in zany sci fi culs-du-sac, sly movie references, and a deranged high fructose attitude that scoffs at the idea of everything but the kitchen sink. The Daniels want infinite kitchen sinks.
Our hero is Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese immigrant running a California laundromat facing down a few existential crises. Beyond the fact that she feels like she’s squandered her potential, there’s the daughter (Stephanie Hsu) who feels unloved; her visiting, judgmental father (James Hong), who will likely not accept his granddaughter being gay; her husband (Ke Huy Quan), who recognizes Evelyn’s unhappiness and is about to serve divorce papers (though not for the reason you may think); and then, adding just enough weight to crack the lens of her reality, a tax audit. Staring Evelyn down, in a putrid wig, is Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis), an I.R.S. employee who, at one point, will lumber around like Michael Myers when things go haywire.
Michelle Yeoh (fresh from a stellar run on Star Trek: Discovery) is tremendous as Evelyn, a flummoxed mom who, out of nowhere, is thrust into the role of action hero. Because of the ludicrous plot, her body is regularly inhabited by different iterations of herself, sometimes shifting multiple times in the same shot. In the “alpha verse” (not ours) something evil is happening, and only Evelyn can stop it, so she is recruited to save us all. There are difficult roles, and then there are acting gigs in which the lead is asked to do, well, everything, everywhere, all at once.
The “rules” of Everything Everywhere are complex, but the gist is that different decisions cause splinters in time, and, somewhere out there, anything that could have happened actually did. So, that means there is a timeline where Evelyn decides not to leave home as a young woman, move to America, and start a laundromat, and instead she becomes an international film star whose career very much resembles Michelle Yeoh’s and lives in an world that looks like Wong Kar-wai’s In The Mood For Love. But on a broader scale, there’s a world where the “wrong” 2001-esque Early Man gets bonked on the head, thus sending humanity down a path to grow hot dog fingers. (Just go with it.)
At Evelyn’s side is her husband, Waymond, and for viewers of a certain age (i.e., mine, exactly) this is a long time coming. Ke Huy Quan gave one of the most delightful kid performances in all of cinema, that of Short Round in Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom, then followed it up with the role of Data in The Goonies. Since then, he’s been off-screen, working as a stunt choreographer. (A recent, terrific profile in Vulture has more on his story.)
The minute Quan appears in this movie, you can’t mistake his face, even after all these decades. And then when he opens his mouth, that voice! What’s more, he’s playing a lovable doofus who puts googly eyes on things, because the only thing better than googly eyes are the people who put them up around a laundromat when no one is looking. And the movie-mad Daniels are no fools: He gets to say “very funny” more than once.
He also demolishes a security force with a fanny pack weighed down with fish tank gravel, something you’ll see in cosplay form at every comic book convention until the end of time. Those who tend to hoot and/or holler during movies will know their cue.
There’s a tremendous amount of action in Everything Everywhere, much of it preposterous (including dueling butt plugs). Yet even those who don’t care for noise have to respect the flashy production design, costumes, shifting film stocks and aspect ration, and explosions of rapid-fire editing that simply could not exist prior to the use of computers. Razor blades and tape could not get this thin back in the day. This is a movie of its moment.
It’s important to add, however, that this madness does serve a purpose. The anarchy is meant to represent what we all feel: that we’re losing grip, that something’s not right, and the gravity of everything is pulling us into darkness, with only kindness able to keep it at bay. If what we were watching were calm, it would not work. Just because the Daniels represent this black hole as an overtaxed bagel doesn’t make its threat any less true. It all makes sense when you see it. And it’s fantastic.
110 Comments
Goddamn. Sounds absolutely ludicrous, and I’m here for it. Like if Tim & Eric had directed The Matrix.
I really hope I can see this in a theater!
See, I went in thinking “ludicrous with a heart of asian Mom/Daughter drama gold”. It was exactly that, but in much heavier supply, and better than I could have hoped.
All the feels, after all the silly, hilarious action. Such a great movie.
This sounds a bit like Michel Gondry or Taika Waititi after pounding a 4-pack of Red Bulls (or the French/Kiwi equivalent). I am on board with it. I should probably check out Swiss Army Men at some point.I did not know they made that “Turn Down for What?” video, but that tracks.
This sounds a bit like Michel Gondry or Taika Waititi after pounding a 4-pack of Red Bulls (or the French/Kiwi equivalent). I am on board with it.After having just watched Swiss Army Man last week, that’s actually a damn fine description of these directors. Although I can’t say I was too taken with that movie as a whole. Worth watching for Daniel Radcliffe though. This Everything Everywhere All At Once movie looks more promising to me.
Perhaps that’s why I didn’t watch it: too many Daniels!
“Turn Down For What” is a song I never need to hear again, but that video helped Sunita Mani break into Hollywood and is therefore awesome.
Her deciding to do a ‘cannonball’ as they fall through the floor the last time has long been my favorite part of that very strange video. That move just has the perfect ‘might as well do this’ vibe to it.
Gondry spending hours binging wuxia, Wong Kar-wai and kung fu movies while dropping acid.Swiss Army Man is wild. Daniel Radcliffe plays a farting corpse whose boner serves as a compass.
Oh OH I know this one! The kiwi equivalent of Red Bull/Monster is Big V. Which I remember being very tasty.
From the Wikipedia article: V Pure is a flavour alternative released in 2016 coming from 6 Natural Ingredients; apple juice, sparkling water, lemon juice, Guarana seed extract, caffeine from green coffee beans and natural V flavourOh, that reminds me of the late, lamented Rockstar Organic Island Fruit flavor (I’m sure they are still a finite number of old, dented cases sitting in warehouses). I miss it so dearly; the drink coolers around where I live are full of the many, many sugar-free energy drinks flavors/brands that have popped up in the last year or so, most of which taste like melted popsicle.
That’s the first time I’ve watched that video. It’s appropriate for the song. I can’t imagine planning/choreographing something like that, and then getting it right during shooting.
I thought of a few different movies during this flick, but when we walked out of the theater I described it to my sister (who was still processing it) as “Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind on Crack”.
So I got 1 of your 2 from it!!
It’s even more hyper-kinetically batshit bonkers than that. As profound as it is preposterous
I completely concur. Yeoh deserves an Oscar she’ll never probably get for this. The whole cast really sells it. The performances make the absurdity become something deep and beautiful. I found it genuinely moving at the same time laughing my ass off at the little things like a racoon tail poking out of a dude’s hat.
Swiss Army Man is fine, but it really seems like the Daniels have learned and figured out their thing since then. Swiss Army Man doesn’t really land the plane at the end as well as I’d like. Everything Everywhere All at Once is about a close to a perfect movie as I’ve ever seen.
I saw an advance screening of it at Alamo Drafthouse and it’s just as good as the review says, if not better. Stephanie Hsu delivers a fantastic, kaleidoscopic performance. They really commit to smart, multi-layered comedy that builds and pays off too. So much live-action comedy these days is pretty lazy and quippy. This movie’s comedy is just gonzo visual and physical comedy that had me laughing so hard I wasn’t even making noise anymore.
Stephanie Hsu was hilarious as Shu Shu on Awkwafina’s Comedy Central show
I didn’t know Hsu was on that. I love her on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
I think she was just in one episode of Awkwafina’s show, as her grandmother’s best friend in flashbacks
I have an enormous crush on Michelle Yeoh and would happily watch her recite a technical manual for a microwave oven- that she’s an amazing actress is just bonus.
Right? I’d be genuinely overcome with emotion if I ever met her, and that’s not true of many people (Julie Andrews comes to mind).
I didn’t realize the everything bagel was such an intense object of preteen contrarianism, but then again I grew up in Oklahoma, where sorta bagels came in a bag next to the Wonder Bread.This looks great. Dueling butt plugs? Sure. That’s probably one of the least shocking things I’ll see, but regardless, happy to accompany Michelle Yeoh on her quest to rule the universe. I’ve been so looking forward to this!I also need a win for A24. I was simultaneously entertained and extremely underwhelmed by X this past weekend.
Oh, my, you have no idea…. obviously…
It’s probably time to include in all movie reviews a reference to whether it is in theatres, whether it’s streaming (and where), or both.
Agreed. I think it’s just theaters for now
As the other person said, it’s only in theaters and looks like a limited release for now. Based on Fandango listings, it might only be SF/NY/LA this weekend and then a few more cities starting next weekend.
Be thankful you don’t live in Britain – we don’t even have an announced release date.
So are you just surprised whenever a new movie comes out? I seriously can’t even picture this.
For most films, we do, but not for this one.https://www.imdb.com/calendar?region=GB
considering this is a24 i imagine it’ll be major markets for the first month then go wide.
Yep and after a month wide it will go streaming. A24 is good like that. They do theatrical runs but also realize that their brand of movies often find more audiences at home later so they move them in and out quick.
Thanks for all the info, but my point was really that this info should be included in movie reviews by default now.
The anarchy is meant to represent what we all feel
Speak for yourself, buddy.
How do you know they’re not an alternate version of you about to Quantum Leap you at any moment?
I’ve never seen an episode of Quantum Leap.
You’ve never but Alternate You had to have a restraining order put on them by Scott Bakula’s management.
Haven’t we all had an alternate universe us get that particular restraining order? C’mon now, fess up…
my buddy does some work for a24 and has watched this a few times already, says it’s awesome.i didn’t realize it was the swiss army man guys, that was a delight. eagerly anticipating this one!
Stephanie Hsu is awesome. Her bit in the “historical drama” episode of Nora From Queens is one of my favorite things in semi-recent memory. Can’t wait to see this.
“Of all the places I could be, I just want to be here with you.” is the reason I want to see this movie, as well it being from the mind of the Daniels.
Sorry , not relevant to article and I apologise . But could someone have the decency to remove the autoplaying gif attached to Matt Novak’s piece about the Chinese air crash. On the giz main page and elsewhere it shows up (beside the article header )showing the planes last seconds as its about to crash . To say its insensitive and a very crass decision to use 130+ peoples demise as clickbait is an understatement . I’m guessing maybe it was an editorial decision rather than the article author but either way someone needs to show some respect and remove it ASAP.Thanks
Who are you to get in the way of some vulture capitalist’s 6th summer home?
I didn’t actually like Swiss Army Man all that much, but I respected the effort enough that I’m still interested in seeing this.
Sounds exhausting and unsatisfying
Possibly too exhausting depending on your tastes, but having seen it, it’s immensely satisfying.
Have you got anything more action packed “Driving Miss Daisy?”
It for sure has one of the best emotional payoffs I’ve ever seen in a third act.
Out of all the incredible things this movie pulls off, the third act is the most astounding
“Astounding” is exactly right. Amazing work here.
This is the truest of statements.
What a bizarre thing to conclude from this review
That’s what she said
Well YOU sound just like my ex-girlfriends.
Funny you say that, as I had that feeling during the movie. “Ugh, this is just throwing weird stuff to be weird.” But it comes together by the end where I was left feeling very satisfied, and that the setup was needed to have the ending work.
Not at all. The ending is poignant and very satisfying.
Ke Huy Quan! I’m in.
He’s absolutely wonderful in it. Everyone is – acting their hearts out – but he is the emotional center of the movie, and it’s incredibly beautiful.
Daniels’s DJ Snake and Lil John “Turn Down For What” videoHey,I remember this vid—Wait, what, holy shit, is that Sunita Mani?!
This and “Unbearable Weight” are the two movies I am most looking forward to. Just, like, sign me the fuck up. And it’s great to see Michelle Yeoh toplining a Hollywood film and showing off all she can to.
Michelle Yeoh being fantastic as always is something I think we can never get enough of and I for one am looking forward to it!
“Michelle Yeoh (fresh from a stellar run on Star Trek: Discovery)“… What? That was at least a couple of years ago. She was in Shang-Chi. And she’s been very busy since Discovery.
She had a pretty big role on Discovery in season 3 that finished airing in 2021, so depending on your definition of “fresh” the article’s not that wrong. Plus of the live-action stuff she’s made since, only Gunpowder Milkshake and Shang Chi have been released. She doesn’t have that much of a memorable role in either.
Ke Huy Quan one of the most delightful kid performances —> Ke Huy Quan (gave?) one of the most delightful kid performancesaspect rations —> aspect ratios
Y’all should email Jim Spanfeller instead of just making these inane comments. Writers aren’t generally responsible for editing, which is why it’s always a separate job, so the editing problems here are a management issue.
While these two appear to be straight-up typos, most of the ones I point out are errors that any writer who is paying attention (or cares at all about their job) would never let through in the first place. They’re elementary school errors
How much professional writing have you done? Do you understand that you and everyone involved are fallible humans? These people are writing thousands of words a day, have deadlines to meet, potentially distracting personal lives, etc. That’s why editors are a separate position. any writer who is paying attention (or cares at all about their job) would never let through in the first place.It’s just astonishingly naïve to think that any professional writer hasn’t made simple errors. I’ve read through dissertations, technical papers, even published books by established authors where there are simple errors, typos, missing words, the like. This isn’t realistic by any stretch. It’s obvious that G/O is skimping on the time and resources allocated to editing, it just shouldn’t be the writer’s job to make the final pass on their own work before publishing.
It takes 90 seconds to do. Most of these articles are two or three paragraphs long. There’s no excuse for this
So no professional writing experience, just an arrogant armchair quarterback. It’s well past time to grow up boss.
I write code, which has to be perfect or it fucks the whole thing up. Maybe that’s why I’m such a tight-ass about this 🤷♀️
Speaking as a computer security professional: your code isn’t perfect either. It might compile, not break the build, and pass all the unit tests, but I guarantee you there are mistakes in there somewhere if you’re coding full time.
Your code fucking sucks and so do you. Your family hates you and can’t wait for you to die. Your presence on this planet is a fucking mistake.
Ha. You can’t unit test movie reviews.
When I wrote copy, this shit would get circled and handed back to me, for ME to correct, unless it was under close deadline.
I do have professional writing experience (scientific research publications, for what it’s worth), and while I agree generally that editors have primary responsibility for these smaller errors, I don’t understand why readers can’t criticize the final essay products with which they’re presented. We can assume many things about the background writing processes at any particular publication or for any specific paper, but all we can directly comment upon is the written piece itself. More generally, I fail to understand your defensive posture toward VolunteerProofreader when you make snarky comments yourself like, “… just an arrogant armchair quarterback. It’s well past time to grow up boss,” or the “555-come-on-now” meme below. If commenting on professional proofreading is making a mountain out of a molehill, then your responses feel similarly pedantic.
My issue stems from the fact that none of us are paying for this publication, this is free content about inconsequential entertainment. If readers genuinely want the publication to improve, then they should be more direct with their complaints and aware of the reasons behind the faltering quality of individual pieces, which is the clear corner-cutting that has been happening since G/O Media took over. However, that is clearly not what these dipshits actually want, they just want to briefly feel superior to the writers for finding negligible errors because their lives are sad.
Keep up the good work, it’s not pedantic when they’re obviously excitedly typing and missing simple things that could be easily caught on a once-over.
kill yourself
I’ve actually done lots of professional writing and I never sent my shit to my editor without first editing it myself to catch extremely simple misspellings. It’s a re-read, and anyone publishing in anything should do at least four before mailing it on, especially for reviews that are 7-800 words.
They’re elementary school errors —> They’re elementary school errors.
I get goose bumps just watching the trailer.Looks like my kind of movie!
“Profound.” “Michelle Yeoh is tremendous.” “…have to respect the” production design, costumes, rations(?), editing. “This is a movie of its moment.” “…it’s fantastic.”
A-, the highest honor bestowed by the A/V Club.
This seems like a perfect candidate for day/date streaming. Guess I’ll just have to wait, then.
I’m going to say it’s worth the theater viewing. Normally I’m a day-and-date home screening guy. This is special. Just my two cents.
This review needs a couple or more passes on the editing.
It sure does.
This looks really good. However, and sorry if this is a dumb ask, but inside the “info” box and next to Cast, Runtime and Rating… would it make sense to also add “Release Date” and “Platform”, to answer when and where we can watch it?I saw that it was an A24 film so figured it was probably a theatrical release, but I had to go Google it to confirm, and also that it comes out on Friday. A lot of times I see reviews for things that end up being Netflix or Hulu whatever, would just be great to have that intel handy.
I haven’t been this excited for a movie in ages.
I’m getting real Crank meets What Happened to Monday vibes. Can’t wait to check this one out.
Literally was like “Ke Huy Quan, why that reminds me of Jonathan Ke Quan, the famous Short Round!”
This sounds like precisely the same kind of annoying kitchen sink bs as, say, Detention (2011), another movie that really clicks with morons
Dention knows that it doesn’t really have anything more then it’s aesthetic but this film thinks that it has something to say. It does not.
What’s with no longer listing the initial deployment platforms? The latest in a long run of changes for the worse
There was a Jet Li movie that turned a variation of this idea into a cheesy but reasonably enjoyable action movie.
I watched it last night and have now sat with it for almost a day. I stand by my initial take – as I emerged, drained and caked in joyful tears: this may very well be the best movie ever made. No joke.It’s as if Douglas Adams wrote a movie about the motherwound directed by Michel Gondry on steroids. I was alternating laughing and crying so much I felt like being in an emotional tumblerdryer. It’s beautiful, simply profound, and perfect. This view is shared by my girlfriend, and at least partly by some younger guys that walked by as we were sitting in shock, decompressing after: “That was the best action movie I have ever seen!”
It definitely sounds like something I want to watch sometime, but I really can’t handle anything that’s too heavy right now – is this pretty emotionally taxing, or light enough to handle. Like, Steven Universe is about as upsetting as I can get right now.
It can definitely be emotionally taxing, but in the most cathartic way. The third act is a warm hug.
Thanks – if I know it’ll end well, I can probably handle the lead-up.
Holy shit. Douglas Adams, if Douglas Adams was an Asian Mom… I think that may be the perfect description- silly, dumb satire in service of THE weepy 3rd act.
This movie is EXCELLENT.
Reject Morbius mania & embrace Everything Everywhere All At Once!
You owe it to yourself to check this film out to live live in the best
of all possible worlds. Now that I’ve witnessed it, Dr. Strange &
Flash are going to need to work thrice as hard to justify their
multiverse movies.
https://mattthecatania.wordpress.com/2022/04/04/the-multiverse-of-michelle-yeoh-minces-morbius/
you jsut single-handedly made my wife okay with the hot dog fingers with that meme and I thank y ou
Great job with the proofreading
This really lived up to my expectations and then surpassed them, and then sliced them up and served them to me hibachi-style. Just a masterful delight of a movie.
Exactly right and perfect review. You have done well.
This film was absolutely bonkers and I loved it. Excellent take.
Saw it last night after being able to avoid spoilers and I loved it.
I caught this yesterday afternoon, and was really looking forward to it, as it sounded like a film with a lot of ambition and imagination, and I’ve not been having a great film-going year. This, it appears, will continue, as — jesus wept — I absolutely loathed this film and had to force myself to sit through this gibbering, nonsensical pile of crap? Its greatest sin, though, apart from its self-satisfied incoherence and gleeful, endless, stupid cartoon violence, is that it takes its hyperactive, sugar-rushed, calorie-free content and then reveals a sickly sweet, syrupy blob at its core and pretends it’s one of your five a day. This was the equivalent of a migraine: The first half gave me a headache, the second made me want to vomit.
I know everyone who reads these comments hence will likely hate me but… I think it’s too long. Just saw it at the Glasgow Film Theatre and it was clearly an amazingly complex endeavour and the editing is incredible and the acting is wonderful, but still. I actually think it was the set-up (or Part 1 – Everything) that dragged before my interest levels were re-energised by it taking a few more batshit crazy turns. The scenes with the rocks were lovely, in particular.
All this time later, it’s wonderful to see that this movie isn’t just acclaimed by critics but beloved by moviegoers everywhere. Underneath all the absurdity and insanity, it’s exactly what we need right now: a sweet, humanistic piece about the importance of kindness.
Late to the fray, just saw it. If you loved it, I have no quarrel. I found it surprisingly unimaginative.[Spoilers]We barely leave that IRS building. I am not sure why. The fight scenes were dull and interminable, I did not care about the raccoon portions after the initial reveal, and the fingers bit was funny as a throwaway gag for ten seconds in the Bollywood movie-within-a-movie but went on forever. Cutting at least 20 minutes would have been an improvement. I am also unclear on how the universes branch due to decisions being made (as stated), then in one of them apparently that “decision” was for some characters to be gay this time. (Yes, other universes seem to be different not based upon someone’s choice, but the rationale jumped about as needed. Talent, also, is apparently a decision. If one character gets this upset about her mother not loving her exactly enough, imagine someone who had actually been abused. It probably would be better with a second viewing, but it did not interest me enough for that, so it is stuck in the same valley for me as The Thin Red Line or HBO’s Westworld.