Everything Everywhere All at Once

Yeoh gives us a masterful action movie star, a poised and proper film icon, an operatic diva, a put-upon teppanyaki chef, a vulnerable queer woman with hot dog ...

From the what to the how to the approaching dramatic ramifications of it all, there might be a lot to chew on. The game, on the other hand, is on to something. The sexual humor is maybe the least rewarding, not because it’s obscene, but because the gross-out approach feels a little one-note (as fun as it is to see someone cannonball onto a butt plug). But the stars manage to make it mostly feel worthwhile — not least in the case of Quan, who had previously walked away from the film industry due to a lack of interesting roles (and proves especially good as a hunky hero in this one), and Wang, a youthful star who evidently relishes the chance to play good and bad, sexy-vicious and troubled, all in the same film. It’s a season finale’s worth of content crammed into one long stretch of the film, and the material may not be up to the filmmaking’s grandiose approach. The Evelyn we know, whose broken-down laundromat is about to be co-opted by a Jamie Lee Curtis with a stockpile of butt plugs in her cubicle (don’t ask), has shied away — been pushed away — from personal and professional decisions that may have led her to a fuller version of herself. A handful even manages to stand out by referencing the performers’ own careers and histories, such as Yeoh’s work with Chan or, even more subtly, Quan’s work with Wong Kar-Wai (whose romantic drama 2046 Wang assistant-directed). It’s as riffy as it is wacky, and it’s not always invigorating; some jokes or referential gestures feel a little more dragged out than others. The IRS is on the family’s tail, and the laundromat is one tiny misstep away from being seized, as symbolized by a severely browed Jamie Lee Curtis. This is nothing compared to the fact that an Alphaverse supervillain named Jobu Tupaki is wreaking havoc someplace in the multiverse where Everyone Everywhere plays out. Evelyn continues to run a laundromat with her hubby, Waymond (the great Ke Huy Quan), under the watchful eye of her father, Gong Gong (played by another legend, James Hong), and without much help from the couple’s disgruntled daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu), who dates women and is wary of her family’s hesitant acceptance of the fact. You don’t need a multiverse for an international film star as skilled and versatile as Yeoh, who thankfully has the credentials and professional endurance to match her talent: Her filmography is already impressive. And that’s part of the fun and the humour, but it’s only part of it. Yeoh offers us the emotional gravitas of a woman tied down by her untapped potential as Evelyn Wang, a Chinese American immigrant caught (she feels) in an unfulfilling marriage and battling to keep her family’s small laundromat afloat. Some of the roles are similar to those that Yeoh has previously done.