Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

 

Are you ready for a frenetic adventure into absurdity? Do you have a stomach for bizarre twists and turns, but enjoy silliness mixed with martial arts?

Then this might be just the thing for you. 

It might also be the strangest film to ever win Academy Awards. Not because it is pretty trippy, but because it's too funny and off kilter. But no one's complaining that Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan finally got some well-deserved recognition from Western audiences. 

Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn, a woman running a launderette with her husband and who is pretty much bummed out in life. The business is a bit of a mess, her husband a bit of a wet rag and her daughter is rebelling in all the ways possible. Evelyn also tries to keep her father happy, but as he is a traditional old miser (James Hong shines yet again), this isn't easy.

Things get even worse when they have their meeting with someone from the tax department and there appear to be inconsistencies. Evelyn zones out. Literally. This is the point where things go bananas, as it turns out there are many alternate dimensions and she is the most boring and unassuming one that has to try and fix everything, as there is an entity that wants to destroy it all. Enter dimension hopping to all the worlds where Evelyn actually made something of her life and where she is able to do the most gloriously beautiful kung fu. 

From here on out, it's a bit of an impossible task to try and explain what is happening. Let's suffice to say the story has a lot of twists and turns and fast paced action. Blink and you'll miss stuff. 

Due to the frenetic nature of the story, it can be quite difficult to follow and repeated viewings do fix a lot of that, but it is never not entertaining or mezmerising. The cast is singularly brilliant and a lot of times this film is funny as all heck. It's colourful, insane and unpredictable.

These are of course also the downsides, as it doesn't take a lot to realise this might overwhelm some or annoy others. If you want a relaxing, quiet time, you won't find it here. This is for those of us who occasionally want something hopped up on sugar and caffeine, whilst our ADD minds bounce all over the place like those little rubber bouncy balls. 

It sure as heck is a lot of fun if you're up for it, though.