Driven by amazing characters that feel truly relatable, Everything Everywhere All At Once is a brilliant film that’s become one of the most talked-about movies of the year. Directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All At Once is a drama-comedy depicting Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese-American woman who owns a laundromat with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), and their daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu).
Evelyn has a strained relationship with her family, especially her daughter Joy, as Evelyn feels Joy being gay does not align with her traditional culture. The film opens as Evelyn’s laundromat is being audited by the IRS. They are investigating her use of business funds for various non-traditional items. The IRS agent assigned to the case, Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis) has a reputation of being quite strict with her clients.
Just before they arrive at Deirdre’s office, Evelyn and Waymond’s minds are temporarily taken over by a Waymond from a parallel universe: the central universe that all others are tied to, known as the Alphaverse. Alphaverse Waymond explains that his universe is under attack and that an attack on the Alphaverse could affect all other universes.
The film’s absurd premise is that shifting across the multiverse is triggered by odd actions (such as eating aquarium rocks or giving yourself papercuts). Combined with its realistic-looking special effects, the film is funny while still keeping a reality tethered to the root idea, family.
Everything Everywhere All At Once centers the disjointed Wang family, a group of almost strangers who share almost nothing in common except for a last name and a laundromat. The start of the film shows Waymond and Evelyn’s relationship teeter at the edge of a cliff while Joy is trying to escape her mother’s homophobic ideals. The harsh tension between the three slowly builds until it almost shatters. Evelyn realizes that despite their deeply broken bonds, they are still a family and if they want to keep that, they need to embrace each other.
Everything Everywhere All At Once’s exploration of darker themes like nihilism and its truly hilarious jokes that don’t feel corny make this movie a relatable must-watch for Generation Z (although maybe don’t bring your younger siblings). Everything Everywhere All At Once is a movie that will really make you think and feel differently about the world.
