Multiverse movies are all the rage lately. Between the success of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” as well as the upcoming “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and “The Flash,” this exploration of alternate universes is a trend that won’t be going away anytime soon.
However, it has taken until now, with the release of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” for a film to truly encapsulate the limitless possibility of the multiverse as a concept. The film had a limited release in the weeks leading up to its nationwide release this past weekend and cemented itself as the No. 1 highest-rated narrative film on the film site Letterboxd, as well as scoring a 9.0 on IMDb, a rating that would place the film in the top five of all time.
While I was definitely skeptical of recency bias going in, it didn’t take long for me to realize that this was the real deal, and that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” truly was something that good.
The movie is an A24 release co-directed by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, the latter best known for “Swiss Army Man.” The Daniels’ directing and writing style lends itself to the multiverse concept very naturally, as chaotic and well-made set-pieces come one after another. This can be a bit overwhelming at times, but when you see a man take on a group of security guards with a fanny pack full of aquarium gravel, it’s hard not to get sucked into the madness and go along with the thrill ride. It definitely helps that the action is top-notch with a lot of expertly-done choreography.
Although you may not expect it from a film such as this, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” also does a tremendous job at hitting you right in the feels. While it can be a difficult balancing act to juggle both laugh-out-loud comedy and tear-jerking drama in the same movie, the film somehow manages to do a great job at both. It never feels like one is getting in the way of the other, and the film can just as easily make you cry in the theater as easily as it can make you laugh uncontrollably.
Part of how well this film is able to transition between comedy and drama are the top-of-the-line performances given by Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu and Ke Huy Quan. All three actors are at the top of their game, giving some potentially career-best performances and managing the difficult task of switching between massively different versions of the same characters. James Hong and Jamie Lee Curtis are also pretty great supporting characters, though the performances of the primary characters stand out as something exceptional.
It’s hard to truly go into a large amount of great details plot-wise because it’s a film that will be best viewed if you know next to nothing going in — simply let the film take you on its wild and crazy journey.
I genuinely haven’t felt this good about a brand new film in theaters since seeing “Parasite” back in 2019 and I wouldn’t be too surprised if this ended up getting nominated for Best Picture a year from now. It definitely deserves the hype, as “Everything Everywhere All at Once” manages to be what feels like the rare generation-defining film that only comes once in a blue moon.
