EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE : Tuesday 3rd May 2022.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE' earlier this week, as Written, Directed and Co-Produced by 'Daniels' - aka Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert whose only other feature film credit together is 2016's 'Swiss Army Man' with Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano. This American Sci-Fi comedy film saw its World Premier screening at the South by Southwest film festival in mid-March before going on wide release in the US in early April and in Australia from 14th April, having so far returned US$43M at the Box Office from a production budget of US$25M and has garnered widespread critical acclaim. Jay and Anthony Russo also serve as Co-Producers here.

Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) is a first generation Chinese-American woman who runs a large laundromat with her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan). Tensions are running at fever pitch because the laundromat is being audited by the IRS. As well, Waymond is trying to serve Evelyn divorce papers; Evelyn's demanding father, Gong Gong (James Hong), has just arrived from China; Evelyn's daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu), has been trying to get her mother to accept her girlfriend, Becky (Tallie Medel), and there's a party planned for later that evening to celebrate Chinese New Year to which all the regular customers are invited.

While at the IRS building for a meeting with IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis), Waymond's personality changes when his body is briefly taken over by Alpha Waymond, a version of Waymond from the Alpha Universe aka 'Alphaverse'. Alpha Waymond explains to Evelyn that many parallel universes exist, since every choice made creates a new universe. The people of the Alphaverse, led by the late Alpha Evelyn, developed 'verse-jumping' technology that allows people to access the skills, memories, and body of their alternate universe counterparts by fulfilling specific conditions. 

He goes on to further explain that the multiverse is being threatened by Jobu Tupaki, formerly Alpha Joy. Her mind was splintered after Alpha Evelyn pushed her to extensively verse-jump. Jobu Tupaki now experiences all universes at once and can verse-jump and manipulate matter as she sees fit. With her godlike power she has created a black hole-like 'everything bagel' that has the potential to destroy the multiverse.

Evelyn is given verse-jumping technology, which she is very reluctant to accept at first, to fight Jobu Tupaki's verse-jumping goons, who converge on the IRS building. Evelyn learns of Waymond's plans to divorce her and discovers other lives where she made different choices and was successful, such as by becoming a kung fu master and movie star instead of leaving China with Waymond, who becomes a successful but lonely businessman. Alpha Waymond comes to believe that Evelyn, as the greatest failure of all Evelyns of the multiverse, has the untapped potential to defeat Jobu Tupaki. Alpha Gong Gong instructs Evelyn to kill Joy to hinder Jobu Tupaki, but Evelyn refuses. She decides she must face Jobu Tupaki by gaining the same powers as her, so she verse-jumps repeatedly while battling Jobu Tupaki's henchmen and Alpha Gong Gong's soldiers. Evelyn's mind splinters and she discovers other, bizarre universes such as one in which humans have hot dogs for fingers and she is in a romantic relationship with Deirdre, and another where she works alongside a teppanyaki chef who is secretly puppeteered by a raccoon. She learns that Jobu Tupaki created the everything bagel not to destroy everything, but to destroy herself, and has been searching for an Evelyn who can understand her. Jobu Tupaki feels that because there are so many vast universes and unending chaos, nothing really matters.

In other universes, the Wangs are about to lose their laundromat due to errors in the tax returns; Alpha Waymond is killed by Jobu Tupaki; and businessman Waymond rejects movie star Evelyn after decades apart. Evelyn is nearly swayed to Jobu Tupaki's cause and stabs her universe's Waymond. She almost joins Jobu Tupaki in entering the bagel, but stops when she hears Waymond's calls to be kind and have hope. 

Evelyn defeats Jobu Tupaki's goons by using her multiverse knowledge to find what is hurting each of them and gives them joy and happiness instead. Evelyn reaches Jobu Tupaki and tells her that she is not alone and that Evelyn will always choose to be with her, despite everywhere else she could be. Meanwhile, in parallel universes, Evelyn confronts Gong Gong and reconciles with Waymond and Joy, and Waymond convinces Deirdre to let the Wangs resubmit their taxes. Jobu Tupaki initially rejects Evelyn, but returns to her, and they hug.

And so the family's relationships has improved, Becky is now part of the family, and they return to the IRS building on a second chance to file their taxes. As Deirdre talks, Evelyn's attention is momentarily drawn to her alternate selves and the multiverse, before she is brought back to the here and now by Deirdre who explains that she is pleased that their taxes now seem to be in order, although there remains one problem . . . fade to black!

'Everything, Everywhere All at Once' is certainly a unique, inventive and original film, albeit weird, peculiar, absurd and confusing, wacky and witty all at the same time. This is a frenetically paced film that defies genre pigeon-holing with stand-out performances by Yeoh, Quan and Curtis (donning a fat suit) especially, who with the Daniels have delivered a story about the struggle of living the best life you can yet still finds hope in living the worst life even if you have to travel through various multiverses to come full circle. Whilst this film didn't really do it for me, I'm sure that for those who did this will offer up something that viewers will be able to latch onto and ultimately relate to that successfully melds Sci-Fi, fantasy, martial arts action, comedy, emotion and family drama all at once. 

'Everything, Everywhere All at Once' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-