Everything Everywhere All At Once has slowly and quietly followed the established template of A24, a studio known for releasing groundbreaking, original, and independent movies. Through initial word of mouth, the co-directed film by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (who also co-wrote), Everything Everywhere All At Once, has become a movie that everyone has at least heard of, even if it has not been seen. Other nonconventional A24 films that had a lot of buzz around them and ended up earning Best Picture nominations in the last half dozen years include Minari (2020), Lady Bird (2017), and Moonlight (the Best Picture winner of 2016). While I appreciated all three movies, I only enjoyed Moonlight. I know that many will die on the sword for Lady Bird. I was not one of those people. A growing number seem willing to do the same for Everything Everywhere All At Once. Again, I am not one of them. I found the story incredibly uneven, the pace hurried, and the narration unreliable.

Fans of fantasy will love this film. Moviegoers who need their movies organized, linear, or sequential will find this movie maddening. I’m not sure if there’s much middle ground. Viewers are either going to love it or hate it. I wanted to love it but was pretty sure I never would. I would ask a friend who had seen it to describe it. More often than not, I would receive a reply similar to, “It’s kind of hard to describe.” My follow-up would ask if they’d consider a film a drama. More definitively, the answer would be no. That left me with the impression that I’d be watching a fantasy with comedic elements. If asked what my least favorite movie genre is, I might reply fantasy-comedy. Everything Everywhere All At Once fits the bill.

Fan favorite Michelle Yeoh (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) plays Evelyn, the film’s lead. She’s a worrisome busybody whose life seems particularly bothered by the laundromat she runs with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan – The Goonies, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), her aging father, the relationship between her Joy (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and another woman, her marriage, and life in general.

Many theoretical questions were asked, most answered as the film ventures into the fantastical unknown. Some will find it imaginative, speculative, and visually stunning as we dip into infinite multiverses to bring balance back to the current universe, all in an attempt for Evelyn to see that everything she ever wanted has always been directly in front of her.

Everything Everywhere All At Once was too disjointed for me to recommend. While I appreciate originality, innovation, and ambition, Kwan and Scheinert did these things in excess. Thirty minutes into the first act, I already felt exhausted. As the story dipped from reality-based to fantasy, I became disinterested in its constant change in direction. I felt like riding one of those spinny rides at an amusement park. For some, those are their favorite rides. For others, these rides do nothing but cause nausea. I prefer roller coasters.

Plot 7/10
Character Development 5.5/10
Character Chemistry 5.5/10
Acting 6/10
Screenplay 4/10
Directing  5/10
Cinematography 10/10
Sound 8/10
Hook and Reel 4.5/10
Universal Relevance 8/10
63.5%

Movies You Might Like If You Liked This Movie

• The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
• Doctor Strange
• After Yang
• Spirited Away
• Crazy Rich Asians