One Liner Review:
Its the Matrix meets Sliding Doors as a wild and out there movie filled with complicated ideas shows how creative it is, especially the more times you see it and can take more of it in.
Brief Review:
REVIEW:
Now this is the real multiverse movie. There have been lots of takes on the concept, ever since Spider Man: Into the Spiderverse introduced the idea to mainstream audiences. And while the vague ideas that hit on roughly similar concepts have actually been in existence for some time now (such as the Gwenyth Paltrow movie Sliding Doors,) it is only in the past few years that this concept has really came to the forefront. Spider Man: Into the Spiderverse kicked that new trend off, but then Spider Man No Way Home and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness took it even further. And here’s the funny thing. None of these movies are actually about Multiverses. Spider Man isn’t about other worlds, but about characters from other worlds that now find themselves in this world. And the second Doctor Strange movie which bares the arrogant title “Multiverse of Madness,” isn’t really about a multiverse or madness. It is simply about one other world. That’s it. The truth is, the real multiverse of madness movie is this one, right here, Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. This is the movie that truly explores lots of different worlds, one more crazy than the next.
At the start of the movie, we are with Everlyn (Michelle Yeoh,) and her husband, Waymond, (Ke Huy Kwan, the former child actor from Goonies and Indiana Jones, Temple of Doom, now turned adult star.) They are running around their small apartment, trying to clean up and organize receipts. And they go downstairs to the laundromat that they own and operate, to help with customer problems. It is all intentionally very chaotic, and the music with clacking and clicking and awkward sounds definitely adds to that. There are fast character movements that seem to come out of nowhere, like kicking a stool across a room, and we get the sense that life is a mess for these two. Especially since Waymond is trying to hand his wife papers that show he is asking her for a divorce, and she can’t even bother to stop and look at them.
The reason why things are so chaotic, today in particular, is three fold. First, Evelyn’s father, Gogo, is in town and is staying with them. He is an elderly wheel chair-bound man who has never approved of Evelyn, and she is terrified of him, and of his opinions of her. Secondly, they are throwing a party for Gogo tonight. It’s a mix between a birthday party and a Chinese Lunar New Year party, and Evelyn wants it to go off without a hitch. And then there’s the third reason why these two are running around so much. They have a meeting with an IRS agent. They are being audited. And so they need all of their receipts, and are stressed out about how the meeting will go.
We not only meet Evelyn, Waymond, and Gogo in these opening scenes, but also Evelyn’s daughter, Joy (Stephani Hsu.) She is having problems with her mom, who constanly makes her feel bad. Joy is a lesbian, in a serious relationship with a girl named Becky, and Evelyn refuses to acknowledge that. When she sees Becky, Evelyn complains about having to make more food. When she introduces Becky to Gogo, Evelyn introduces her as Joy’s good friend. All of this causes Joy to run off, and drive away, but not before Evelyn gives her a fee harsh words, such as calling her fat.
And now it’s off to the IRS building to meet with agent Deirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis.) It should be noted at this point that Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Kwan and Jamie Lee Curtis all won acting oscars this year for this movie. And Hsu was nominated two. Four acting nominations and three wins. Not to mention wins for best director and best picture. So clearly this movie was a fan favorite, not only among the academy, but among audiences too. The fact that Curtis, who bsaically plays a villain, can not only be nominated, but all win, really says something about the movie. The fact that this crazy movie about a multiverse and all different worlds can win best picture and best director really shows how open minded the Oscars have become. And also how great this movie must have been to win so so many awards.
At the meeting with the IRS agent, things really start to go down. First, in the elevator, on the way to the meeting, Waymond opens an umbrella to block the cameras and turns into somebody else… Alpha Waymond. He’s another version of himself from the Alpha Verse. And he’s here to see if this Evelyn is the chosen one (sounds a lot like the Matrix, right?) There’s an evil being out there named Jobu Tobaki, who has created a black hole of sorts that can suck up all multiverse worlds. And Alpha Waymond is on the hunt for the Evelyn who can stop it. He thinks this is the one. As we learn in the IRS agent meeting, this Evelyn has tried tons snd tons of hobbies and failed at all of them (she tries to claim that they are alternate careers, so she can deduct the expenses on her taxes..) This is important because Alpha Waymond believed it is because this Evelyn has failed at everything that she might be the one. Since she is terrible at everything, she can do anything. I’m not sure that that logic makes sense. But what does make sense is that every time she fails at something, it creates a branch in the timeline where there is another Evelyn who was successful with it. And now, due to something called Verse Jumping, Evelyn can tap into the abilities of any of those version of herself and be an instant expert at anything (that’s where more of the Matrix comes in, if you think about the scenes where Neo and Trinity plug in and then moments later have learned new sets of skills, such as knowing how to fly a helicopter.)
The IRS meeting includes Evelyn getting pulled out of her body there, into the body of hers that is in other locations, such as inside the janitor’s closet. But she keeps getting pulled back into this meeting by Deirdre who tries to make sure that Evelyn is still paying attention. Of course she isn’t, with Alpha Waymond continuously trying to pull her away, showing up in places like the mirror next to her. The real craziness doesn’t start, however, until Evelyn and Waymond and her fsther leave the meeting and are waiting by the elevators. That’s when Evelyn sees Deirdre get up and start to walk over to them. Now in another world, that she is experiencing at the same time, Deirdre is a henchman of Jobu Tobaki, out to kill them. But in this regular world, she is just an IRS agent. Only Evelyn gets them mixed up, and punches Deirdre in the face, prompting Deirdre to call security. When those guards show up, Waymond turns into Alpha Waymond and the best kung fu fight in the movie begins. This one uses moves that go back to some of the best Kung Fu movies, such as Once Upon A Time in Chine II. Waymond uses a fanny pack and whips it around the same way that Jet Li and Donnie Yen whipped around wet cloths made to be as powerful as heavy ropes in that movie. Other movies to copy the moves since then include Kill Bill Volume 1 (Gogo with her ball snd chain,) and Romeo Must Die (Jet Li, using a hose.) But here, in Everything, they get it all right. Everything. The spinning and wrapping the fanny pack around Waymond’s neck. The kicking the fanny pack out, at the enemies, so that it lashes out at them like a whip. Even the slamming his foot down on one end of the fanny pack and the guy on the other end of it crashing head-first into the floor.. Talk about impressive choreography.
The movie now gets into jumping pads and different Evelyns that she can become. Jumping Pads are actions that a person can take to propel them into the multiverse. They are statistically improbable actions that the character would normally never do. Or as Joy later puts it, when they do something crazy, it gives them powers. We are talking about things like Waymond eating chapstick, or giving himself four paper cuts in his hand on purpose. At one point, butt plugs stuck inside two guys even get involved. And that brings us to another note, which is the humor. It’s a little too much with the level of R rated craziness. I’m all for a fun R rated movie, but when nunchucks get turned into dildos and are bopping around in slow motion, it’s. little much. Let’s put it this way, it goes from, “yeah, it’s violent, but kids could probably still see it,” to, “nope, no way any kid should be seeing this.” Oh well. If there’s one thing to change bout the movie, that’s really it.
What does work is the way that the movie not only explores all different Evelyns coming into this world (the way most multiverse movies have been doing it, going all the way back to Into the Spider Verse,) but also Evelyn’s life in other worlds. We start getting into this during part 2 of the movie, titled “Everywhere.” Suddenly we see movie star Evelyn in her life, going to premiers and running into a Waymond that she never had a future with. We see hot dog fingers Evelyn, who is in a relationship with Deirdre, and Hibachi chef Evelyn whose competition is.a chef that uses a raccoon on his head, Ratatouille style (this movie even calls out that Pixar film, referring to this raccoon ad Racacoony.) There’s a futuristic world where everything is white and where Jobu Tobaki wear a bagel on her head. In fact, that’s where she explains that it’s not a black hole, but an everything bagel that she created to suck up the multiverse. There’s even a rock version of Evelyn and a hanging doll version of her. There’s the version of her in the IRS building having all kinds of fights (including one where she taps into a sign wielding version of Evelyn to figure out how to spin around a riot gear shield.) And then there’s the version of Evelyn who is throwing the party at the laundromat. And all of these stories happen at the same time.
To say there’s a lot going on here is an understatement. There is sentimentality and a heart-warming ending, but it also feels a little forced. The beauty of this movie is in the martial arts and humor, and the out there ideas (the idea of Evelyn and her daughter both existing as two rocks is priceless., and about as Zen as it gets.) The Racacoony idea is ingenious. Especially when one character starts carrying another one on his shoulders and running. And the way that the movie cuts from one universe to the next is impressive. The last time we saw anything like that was in Inception. Remember, we’ve seen plenty of multiverse movies over the past few years, or at least movies that call themselves multiverse movies, but really instead of taking us into other worlds, they just bring characters from other worlds into our world. That’s not exploring the multiverse. That’s exploring one world with characters who are from a multiverse that we never actually get to see. There’s a difference. And Everything Everywhere All At Once is finally the movie that gets it right. This is the movie that actually gives us the different worlds. And boy are they cool. This is one hell of a creative film that really swings for the fences.