15 Reasons Why You Should Definitely Watch "Everything Everywhere All At Once"

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While the title doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, Everything Everywhere All At Once is a super accurate description of the movie. Not only do we encounter multiple versions of every character and countless overlapping realities, it also made me feel every type of emotion, all at once. 

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There's not much you can do to prepare for this film – in fact, it's probably best that you try not to! Hopefully it will make you laugh though. Even the general gist of the film is hilarious – a woman who cannot get her taxes done gets caught up in a multi-dimensional war in which she is a crucial element. There's definitely an absurdist angle to the film, but it also contains some spot-on and truly side-splitting depictions of the mundanity of everyday life.

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Everything Everywhere All At Once is certainly a funny film, but it's also not without tension or excitement. With the constant threat of multiverse enemies on her tail, Evelyn's personal battle with morality and the meaning(lessness) of life is more than enough to maintain a super engaging atmosphere. 

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Evelyn herself is a flawed character (which she's reminded of over and over again), and her relationship with her father, daughter, and husband are all examined in the film. After spending most of the movie with my head thrown back in laughter, I was not expecting to shed a tear at the end. The movie's creators managed to portray the troubled family dynamic really well, and they didn't sugar-coat a thing.

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The two directors – collectively known as "the Daniels" – have come a long way. In 2013, they were making a music video for DJ Snake's "Turn Down For What", and now they're on their second feature film, their first being Swiss Army Man in 2016. It's an exciting time for the duo who, after the success of Everything Everywhere All At Once, are clearly on the rise!

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Michelle's turn as Evelyn is simply incredible. We see the multiverse through her various "non-googley" eyes, and her performance somehow manages to hold everything together perfectly. This film is a bit of a cheat code, because we get so many different Michelle Yeoh performances all in one film!

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What a perfectly cast role! We get to watch Jamie as an IRS auditor, and Michelle as a laundromat owner battle it out both physically and via paperwork. Need I say more? 

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After taking a break from cinema that has lasted over 20 years, Ke Huy Quan returns to star alongside Michelle Yeoh, who he says is the reason for his comeback. Quan mentioned that watching Crazy Rich Asians convinced him to get back into acting. It's great to see him back in front of the camera, and showcasing his amazing Taekwondo skill!

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Despite the movie being about a threat to the physical integrity of the multiverse, this film is anything but boring! I love that it never takes itself too seriously; we don't need to know the technical mechanics of the multiverse, we just chaos, silliness, and hot dogs!

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You can definitely spot the directors' love of Hong Kong cinema in this movie, as well as how they drew inspiration from the The Matrix film series in the bombastic fight sequences. Slow-motion flying kicks and powerful one-finger-punches find their way into these spectacular scenes, and are not out of place at all!

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You'd be forgiven for being a bit disoriented after the first half of the movie – I mean, we are dealing with the multiverse here, after all! During the latter half of the film, however, it begins a meditation upon some important ideas, particularly those pertaining to nihilism and optimism. We see how these ideologies interact with individual emotions, and Evelyn's shifting position between these two poles is vital to the movie. 

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Part of the film's beauty is that we get to see the characters learning how to be better people, and perhaps we may even learn how to be better ourselves as a consequence. As the Daniels mentioned, they wanted to play an "empathy game" with the audience through Evelyn's story, which really pulls at the ol' heartstrings towards the end!

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The film follows a family of Chinese immigrants – a cultural background that Dan knows a thing or two about – and the dialogue mixes English, Cantonese, Mandarin, and blended Chinese dialects. Dan decided to stay true to his upbringing by combining these languages in the script, even though he thought it might confuse some viewers.

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Daniel Scheinert has said of the film, "it was never a conscious thing that our movie be a love letter to Michelle Yeoh. It just happened because we love her." Similarly, Dan Kwan has commented that the homage came about by accident – "we created a love letter to Michelle Yeoh in which we gave her that space to grow, which is what real love is, right?"