Everything Everywhere All at Once – A Review

From the global pandemic to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and countless other shocking global events in between and since, it has become a popular trope on social media to say that we are living in an “alternative timeline.” The idea is that there exist multiple universes, or timelines, reflecting every possible permutation of random occurrences and individual choices, and we may be in a timeline where unlikely and horrific events keep happening. The premise of 2022 film Everything Everywhere All at Once is that these multiple universes all exist.

In the universe where most of the story takes place, our protagonist Evelyn is flailing. Her husband wants a divorce, the IRS is auditing and threatening to seize her business, and her relationship with her adult daughter is one misunderstanding away from collapse. In a different universe, referred to in the film as the Alpha Universe, Evelyn is a scientist who discovers a way for people to connect to other universes by inhabiting their own individual counterpart in that universe.

Problems arise when another character in the Alpha Universe masters Alpha Evelyn’s discovery and learns how to bring elements of some universes into other universes. This villainous character harnesses incredible powers, but also causes substantial damage, waging wars and sowing destruction in countless universes. Protagonist Evelyn is the multiverse’s best and only hope of defeating this villain.

The premise is certainly creative, and Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (the Daniels) have fun with it. The editing is precise and fast paced, and the Daniels skillfully propel a story line in a setting that is chaotic by design. For example, in one particularly hectic action scene, Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” eclipses all diegetic sound, cutting and slowing the climax of the scene to great effect. To the extent this song is overused in movies (see the fountain scene in Ocean’s Eleven), the Daniels effectively exploit the cliché to bring a sense of order to an absurdist and chaotic plot.

Some of my favorite scenes of Everything Everywhere All at Once involve the interplay between the universe in which Protagonist Evelyn is discovering her powers in confronting the villain, and a universe in which Evelyn is a movie actress playing a role in which she is acting out the exact same events for a camera. In Actress Evelyn’s universe, the characters—particularly Evelyn’s sweet but green husband—are slightly exaggerated caricatures of their counterparts as they exist in Protagonist Evelyn’s universe. As the film transitions fluidly from the Protagonist Universe to the Movie Universe and back, it is at times unclear which universe is depicted, and therefore, what is real. And that’s exactly the point. Everything is real. Also, nothing is real.

The villain explains her motives to Protagonist Evelyn by telling her, “Nothing matters.” The villain has seen every universe and has experienced every life. She has felt every joy and every pain. It is all overwhelming, and it is all fleeting. Nothing feels real to her, so nothing matters. Central to Protagonist Evelyn’s ultimate victory is her ability to help the villain see that that’s not true, and that some things do matter.

It’s a heartfelt resolution, but it is underdeveloped. As soon as Protagonist Evelyn defeats the villain—and learns important life lessons in the process, all of her problems promptly resolve, such that by the end of the film, Evelyn and her husband are affectionate and happy together, the business survives the audit, and Evelyn and her daughter are closer than ever before. The abrupt resolution of the film cements its identity as an action movie, which is disappointing in a film that could have risen above the limitations of that genre. Like the worst of the Marvel movies, the best part of Everything Everywhere All at Once  is the action, and the plot falls apart if you think about it too much.

For example, the resolution of  the Evelyn’s tax problems is superficial and deeply unsatisfying. The audit of her business is unfair because we learn that the IRS has been targeting Chinese-owned businesses like Evelyn’s, and the IRS auditor seems to have changed the rules since the business’s previous audit—rules that Evelyn tried to follow, then is punished for following. It is warranted, however, because the business is struggling, and its finances appear to be an absolute mess. After Protagonist Evelyn defeats the villain, she is given a second chance with the IRS, and the business is A-OK.  In other words, Protagonist Evelyn’s legitimate problems effectively disappear because Evelyn saves the multiverse and has gained a new perspective about the meaning of life. This hackneyed resolution evades the reality that the American tax system is demonstrably unfair to working immigrants like Evelyn. By suggesting that the solution to this problem is Evelyn’s attitude, instead of systemic reform of a system designed to benefit the wealthy, the movie trivializes the problems that it created for its protagonist. That these problems are compelling at all is a testament to the incredibly strong performances by Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan.

Additionally, the Daniels frequently misjudge the line between delightful absurdity and unnecessary crudeness. The absurdity underlying the movie is at times luscious, such as the villain’s eccentric and stunning costuming (by Shirley Kurata). At other times, however, the vulgarity is just unnecessary, such as when the villain murders people by repeatedly striking them with dildos, and when two men in a way-too-long fight scene have visible butt plugs protruding from their backsides. These slapstick gags cheapen what is otherwise a smart movie. The use of a small dog as a weapon may produce laughs in a Seth Rogan movie, but here, it degraded the film, and just wasn’t funny.

Ultimately, this movie is a fun journey. But it fails to meaningfully grapple with its deeper themes. Given the brilliance of the storytelling, it is disappointing that the destination falls flat.