A Movie About Everything And Everywhere, And Its All At Once

There’s an uncomfortable truth that us film critics have to grapple with whenever we turn in our “Best of the Year” lists at the turn of the calendar. We can create a list of nothing but widely acclaimed movies with high aggregate Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores, but we won’t know for sure which (if any) of them go on to be well remembered in the decades to come or leave some kind of a blueprint for future filmmakers. As I mentioned briefly in my previous piece on critics Siskel and Ebert,  you can look back at what was making their year-end lists decades ago and notice not all of those movies really left much of a mark decades later – or the fact that they panned certain movies that went on to be cultural favorites. We can only best guess as to what films will stand out from the year with future generations and make our individual cases for the movies we most loved in the moment.

Of course we can make an inference as to what films will likely stand out for sure in the coming decades. I’m a big believer that the superhero subgenre of films that some so easily dismiss will go on to be passed down to future generations; and dare I say some of those who grow up on them will go on to be inspired to discover other movies in the same way watching Godzilla movies did for me as a kid or the way the generation before me discovered movies through their love of Star Wars. There’s film franchises with big followings that will have added to their library of movies each year for their fanbases to binge through. There’s resources such as the 1,001 Movies To Watch Before You Die book which updates each year with films that are given a status of importance and future filmmakers will try to learn from. But in reality, just like historians trying to evaluate presidencies, we won’t know for sure what movies from the last year stick around in the public consciousness in some form or another until time has passed.

But then you have a movie like Everything Everywhere All At Once (EEAAO) – one of those once in a while moments when you watch something new in the world of film and know instantly this is something that won’t be forgotten so easily by father time. The kind of movie that leaves an impression and will likely be name-dropped in the same way 1933’s King Kong or 1975’s Jaws or 1999’s The Matrix are when filmmakers open up about what movie made them want to make their own movies. A film that I believe could be the key to bringing many movie go-ers across the spectrum together from your casual big chain theatre visitor who makes catching the latest Marvel film a must-do, to the hardcore cinephile that goes to their local arthouse theatre to catch the newest independent films.

Everything Everywhere All At Once was released at the South by Southwest Film Festival earlier this year in the Spring. Overnight the critical praise for it was unlike anything I’ve seen since maybe 2019’s Parasite. It released to limited theatres in late March before having a wider release in the following weeks. It would go on to become just the third film to have the highest Letterboxd score of the website’s existence, and even after that score dropped down a bit its currently in the all-time Top 15 on the site alongside such films as Seven Samurai, The Dark Knight, The Godfather, and The Shawshank Redemption. I’ve watched the film six times already since it released and gave it a glowing review for my newsletter back in April. As a small independent film from arthouse distributors A24, the movie did better than expected at the box office with impressive legs that included actually seeing growth from one weekend to the other; and ultimately ending its run with a little over a hundred million made – and all this while behemoths like Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness were also competing for ticket sales. And to top it all off it entered fall film festival season a Best Picture contender for next year’s Oscars.

Its a movie with a title that couldn’t be more apropos – it truly is everything and everywhere and its all at once. It’s absurdist, its comedic, its got action and adventure, it has elements of a superhero movie, its  a kung-fu film at times, it has visual effects, it has practical effects, lavish costumes and set designs, great hair and makeup, an impressive original score, it has good old-fashion fight choreography, its a family drama, its a romance, it touches on themes of existentialism, and everything in-between. I’ve already reviewed the film but I wanted to go further and instead run down why I think it will have legs to become a movie that is well remembered in the decades to come. Why not only do I see it becoming a mainstream classic, but a movie that will be taught in film schools and perhaps inspire the next Spielberg. Why I believe the film has taken the hold it has among movie fans of all types. Why I believe we’re watching an actual honest-to-God masterpiece have its awakening period.

– A True Multiverse Film

In the last few years the exploration of a multiverse and its possibilities has become a hot commodity for blockbuster movies.  Whether it be animated hits like Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse or the latest MCU offerings. Its allowed some fun cinematic moments such as seeing three Spider-Mans from three different movie timelines in the same movie or seeing two of Doctor Strange from different universes going at it with one another. But there’s always been this feeling that there were limitations on these films into truly exploring all of the various divergent ways one timeline can differ from the other. To explore the concept to its fullest no matter where that may take you.

With EEAAO that changes. The movie shows us different versions of the characters such as our protagonist in Evelyn being a laundromat owner, a kung-fu master, a chef, a maid, a pizza sign holder, a rock, and everything else in between including even being the actress portraying the character, Michelle Yeoh, herself! But it also goes as far as to show alternative realities where hot dogs replace fingers, dairy is unavailable, you can literally knock someone out by flexing your pinky muscles, or creatures can control human beings by a tug of their hair (Yes, the movie you’re thinking of is referenced here). There’s one scene where Evelyn’s many forms are shown in a montage and if you pause the scene at the right time you’ll find versions of her that don’t even appear in the movie. The attention to detail in maximalist possibilities here by the writer and directors behind this project is so amazing we’re still finding little Easter eggs and split-second moments that show just how one small divergence in the character’s pass changes a whole other universe and timeline.

– Family Drama Disguised As A Genre Movie

As you watch the plot unfold in EEAAO, you seem to be getting gently eased by the story from a grounded starting point to the more absurdist and fantastical elements. We meet Evelyn as a laundromat owner who seems to look down on her husband, has a bad relationship with her father and daughter, and is facing the only other inconvenience assured in life other than death in paying her taxes. By the half-way point of the movie we’ve been conditioned to go from watching this everyday life drama of one woman to accepting a multiverse, watching Evelyn learn kung-fu, and be introduced to an antagonist that literally uses sex toys as a weapon in one scene. Then as we enter the third act we’re going into themes of existentialism, watching rocks communicate with one another, wheelchairs become mecha suits, and Evelyn has basically become an all powerful being by this point.

And then the movies suddenly careens to a stop as we go into the climax and we enter a family drama. That’s when the viewer realizes that everything you’ve seen played out, everything and everyone that has driven the plot forward, all the wild fight scenes, and dimension hopping were all a cover to what really drives this story. Our protagonist goes through a wild and whacky adventure where she figures she has to save existence itself, but ends up instead facing her personal demons. Evelyn has to start treating her husband more kinder, she has to step up to her father, she has to reconcile with her daughter, and she has to come to terms with the life paths that she regrets not taking. Somehow hidden in a movie that features kung-fu fights and hot dogs finger gags, this ends up much more a drama than a genre movie. Its a miraculous and wonderful marriage of the possibilities of the kind of stories film can tell mixed into one perfect recipe.

– A Different Kind Of Love Story

If it wasn’t enough that this movie showcases action, adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, and even family drama, it manages to have a romantic subplot as well. But its a different romantic story than what we’d usually get. In movies like this you usually see the guy get the girl through heroic feats or in the case, such as this one, of a female protagonist you’d likely see her fall for the guy helping her save the day. This film turns all that on its head. We don’t meet our lovebirds lonely and unaware of the other’s existence before a meet-cute kicks the courtship off, they’re already married and going through a rough patch.

Evelyn’s husband Waymond (Played by none other than Ke Huy Quan) is introduced to us as a beta who is constantly insulted and bossed around by his wife. He’s goofy to the point she’s annoyed by him and given he was the one who convinced her to immigrate to the states and own a laundromat she didn’t want she blames him for her life’s path. Other movies would lazily create an arc for such a character where they become an alpha and win back the heart of their wife through heroic means.

And we actually get introduced to one version of Waymond who very much fits that bill in Alpha Waymond, who teaches Evelyn about the multi-verse. But as the story unfolds and Evelyn gets a chance to see how life could have been without her husband, she sees that while both would have seen better financial success and didn’t necessarily NEED one another to be happy and successful in life, there is still that void that exists without the other. We figure out Evelyn’s husband is not so much a bossed around beta male as much as he is a kind man who tries to see the good in everyone even if others see it as a weakness. It all leads to one of the most powerful scenes I’ve ever seen in a movie in which a different universe’s Waymond tells her that he would had been happy had he gotten to live out the life our Waymond got to with her even if it meant owning a laundromat and doing taxes.

– The Meaning Of Life

And if this mixture of various genres and ideas wasn’t enough, the movie decides to go for what is arguably the ultimate theme to explore in storytelling – existentialism. Being a movie directed by the duo of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Known together as simply “Daniels”), two dudes who seem based on their previous projects’ themes to be more of the secular persuasion, the movie’s examination of life’s meaning eventually end sup being a modern, positive spin on nihilism and the idea “Nothing matters”. Its an interesting twist on the philosophy and I can certainly see where the movie’s exploration of different multiverses and the possibilities all lead to it.

But as someone who is not secular himself, and does believe there is meaning to life, I actually found the opposite in the movie’s messaging. Perhaps it wasn’t intended to be presented as such given the characters literally say “Nothing matters” towards the end, but I saw it differently. What I see in the movie is a search for meaning that is ultimately found at the end for Evelyn and her family. Perhaps its not some “greater good” or a seismic shift in consciousness or anything dramatic like that, but even in the little things such as being there for family and finding yourself I believe there is meaning.

This leaves us with a movie that does something rare. It can create a conversation and philosophical debate even in quibbling with the film itself. To get this from a movie that features the fantastic, fun, adventurous, and crowd-pleasing elements that this movie has is quite the feat and should be taught in screenwriting classes for decades to come.

– Bringing All Types Of Film Fans Together

But if I had to say what is the most amazing feat that EEAAO accomplishes, its that its the kind of movie that can be recommended to all sorts of niche movie fans. In a day and age where content is so plentiful, where movie fandom keeps dividing into cliques, and when we see this uneasy relationship between smaller, fresh, films and known IPs that dominate the box office, this movie is able to bring all of it together. Obviously its not going to be beloved by every single individual out there, no movie has or ever will exist that is unanimously liked much less liked by the same degree among its own fans. But I don’t think its high audience scores are a fluke.

If you enjoy taking yourself to the local theatre, grabbing some popcorn, and watching an action/adventure genre flick, you’ll likely like this. If you like going to the local small arthouse cinema and catching the latest independent critically praised movie, you’ll likely like this. If you loathe the MCU and what it represents in the current landscape of cinema, you’ll likely like this. If you think Spider-Man: No Way Home was robbed of an Oscar Best Picture nomination, you’ll likely like this. If you love romances, if you like high concept sci-fi or fantasy, if you’re go to are raunchy comedies, etc you’ll likely like this.

Given the state of movie fandom these days, perhaps the greatest thing we can get from Everything Everywhere All At Once is a movie is that is accessible to almost everyone. I can recommend this to the snobbiest of cinephiles and to my parents. You don’t get a movie like that so often these days.