Everything Everywhere All at Once: 2022's Best Movie

It's only April but when I saw Everything Everywhere All at Once, I knew I had already seen the year's best movie. My mind was blown, my heart was full, every one of my emotions had been engaged. What an experience.

Over the course of the weekend, my boyfriend and I have been recommending this movie to tons of people. But when they ask, "what is it about?" we run into difficulty. This movie defies description, and if you watch the trailer, you will have some sense of what an over-the-top and raucous conceit it is. It reminded me of what it felt like to watch The Matrix for the first time and alternately think, "This movie is incredible" and "How high were the screenwriters?" From the minds of writer-director duo Dan Kwan and Daniel Schienert (who are collectively known as the "Daniels") this is a scintillating film that covers every genre known to man and manages to coalesce all its plots into one cohesive whole that serves as a rumination on life, the universe, and everything. 

The goddess Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn Wang, a Chinese American woman who is having a very bad day. She runs a laundromat with her husband, Waymond (the brilliant Ke Huy Quan) and they are being audited by the IRS, specifically by a woman named Deirdre, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, who is having a damn good time. Evelyn and Waymond are also planning a Chinese New Year party later that night, dealing with the fact that Evelyn's father, "Gong Gong" (Cantonese for "grandfather," played by prolific all-star, James Hong) has just arrived from China, and that their gay daughter, Joy (the marvelous Stephanie Hsu) has chosen today to ask her family to be more accepting of her girlfriend, Becky (Tallie Medel). The opening scenes of this film are chaotic and stressful as you see all the many woes being heaped upon Evelyn as she tries to deal with her family and her business. But her day is about to get a lot worse, because it turns out that she lives in a multiverse, and in a parallel universe, there's a villain named Jobu Tupaki who is on a rampage and threatening to destroy everything. Bet you didn't see that twist coming. 

Suffice to say, you will get to see a multitude of Evelyns, which serves as a fine showcase for the many facets of Michelle Yeoh, from kung fu queen, to glamorous film star, to...sidewalk sign spinner. The first part of the film plays like a sci-fi action comedy. But the second part suddenly veers into a deeply existential treatise on humanity. There was a scene that made me burst into tears, even as it involved the entire audience laughing out loud collectively in the theater. If I had to describe that scene to you as a standalone cinematic moment, you would think I was insane, but the genius of this film lies in its relentless pace, editing, and ability to weave together different strands to make an absolute masterpiece out of disparate elements that seem like something conceived during an acid trip.

Everything Everywhere All at Once contains such multitudes. It evokes all manner of visceral reactions from you, whether you are crying because you suddenly feel seen or whether you are squirming in your seat because you cannot bear paper cuts (yeah, that scene was more powerful than any horror movie). It has some gross-out gags, some incredibly absurd comedy, and then all of a sudden is a profound love story and meditation on kindness. It's about accepting yourself and loving your family and your community, and trying to get by in the world with decency even if it's all absolutely pointless. God, what a movie. What a ridiculous, insane, sublime movie.