Everything Everywhere All at Once
Everything Everywhere All at Once | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Dan Kwan Daniel Scheinert |
Written by |
|
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Larkin Seiple |
Edited by | Paul Rogers |
Music by | Son Lux |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | A24 |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 139 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages |
|
Budget | $25 million[1] |
Box office | $19.054 million[2][3] |
Everything Everywhere All at Once is a 2022 American science-fiction action film written and directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (collectively known as "Daniels"). It stars Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., with James Hong and Jamie Lee Curtis. The plot follows a Chinese-American woman (Yeoh) being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, who discovers that she must connect with versions of herself from different parallel universes to prevent the destruction of them all by a powerful being.
Everything Everywhere All at Once features music composed by Son Lux, including collaborations with such artists as Mitski, David Byrne, and André 3000. The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 11, 2022. It began a limited theatrical release in the United States on March 25, 2022, before a wide release on April 8, by A24. Variously described as a black comedy and a "swirl of genre anarchy"[4], the film received critical acclaim, with much of the praise aimed towards its tone and imagination, direction, performances (particularly of Yeoh and Quan), and handling of themes such as nihilism.
Plot
Evelyn Wang is a Chinese-American woman who runs a struggling laundromat with her husband, Waymond. Tensions in the household are high due to the laundromat being audited by the IRS after Evelyn incorrectly filed her taxes. Additionally, Waymond is trying to give divorce papers to Evelyn; Evelyn's father, Gong Gong,[a] has just arrived from China; and Evelyn's daughter, Joy, has been trying to get her mother to accept her girlfriend, Becky.
While at the IRS building for a meeting with IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdra, Waymond's personality changes when his body is briefly taken over by Alpha Waymond. Alpha Waymond explains to Evelyn that many parallel universes exist, since every choice made creates a new universe. The people of the Alpha Universe, led by the late Alpha Evelyn, developed "verse-jumping" technology that allows people to access the skills, memories, and body of their parallel universe counterparts. The multiverse is being threatened by Jobu Tupaki, formerly Alpha Joy. Her mind was splintered after Alpha Evelyn pushed her to extensively verse-jump; Jobu Tupaki now experiences all universes at once and can verse-jump and manipulate matter at will. She has created a black hole-like "everything bagel"[b] that can potentially destroy the multiverse.
Evelyn is given verse-jumping technology to fight Jobu Tupaki's verse-jumping minions, who begin converging in the IRS building. Evelyn learns of Waymond's plans to divorce her and discovers other lives where she made different choices and flourished, such as by becoming a kung fu master and movie star instead of leaving China with Waymond, who becomes a successful but lonely businessman. Alpha Waymond comes to believe that Evelyn, as the greatest failure of all Evelyns of the multiverse, has the untapped potential to defeat Jobu Tupaki. Alpha Gong Gong instructs Evelyn to kill Joy to hinder Jobu Tupaki, but Evelyn refuses. She decides she must face Jobu Tupaki by gaining the same powers as her, so she verse-jumps repeatedly while battling Jobu Tupaki's minions and Alpha Gong Gong's soldiers. Evelyn's mind splinters, and she discovers other universes where humans have hot dogs for fingers—and in which she is in a turbulent relationship with Deirdre—and where she works alongside a chef with a Ratatouille-like raccoon. She learns that Jobu Tupaki created the everything bagel not to destroy everything, but to destroy herself, and has been searching for an Evelyn who can understand her. Jobu Tupaki feels that because there are so many vast universes and unending chaos, nothing truly matters.
In other universes, the Wangs are about to lose the laundromat due to tax errors, Alpha Waymond is killed by Jobu Tupaki, and businessman Waymond rejects movie star Evelyn after decades apart. Evelyn is nearly swayed to Jobu Tupaki's cause and stabs her universe's Waymond. She almost joins Jobu Tupaki in entering the bagel, but stops when she hears Waymond's calls to be kind. Evelyn defeats Jobu Tupaki's minions by using her multiverse knowledge to find what is hurting each of them and helping them. Evelyn reaches Jobu Tupaki and tells her that she is not alone and that Evelyn would choose to be with her, despite everywhere else she could be. Meanwhile, in parallel universes, Evelyn reconciles with Waymond and Joy, and Waymond convinces Deirdre to let the Wangs redo their taxes. Jobu Tupaki initially rejects Evelyn, but returns to her, and they embrace.
In an epilogue, the family's relationships have improved, Becky is part of the family, and they return to the IRS building on a second chance to file their taxes. As Deirdre talks, Evelyn's attention is momentarily drawn to her alternate selves and the multiverse, before she grounds herself back in her home universe.
Cast
- Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn Quan Wang
- Stephanie Hsu as Joy Wang / Jobu Tupaki, Evelyn's daughter
- Ke Huy Quan as Waymond Wang, Evelyn's husband
- James Hong as Gong Gong (Cantonese 公公, "grandfather"), Evelyn's father
- Jamie Lee Curtis as Deirdre Beaubeirdra, an IRS inspector
- Tallie Medel as Becky, Joy's girlfriend
- Jenny Slate as "Big Nose", a laundromat customer
- Harry Shum Jr. as Chad, a man who, in another universe, is a chef controlled by a raccoon
- Biff Wiff as Rick, a laundromat customer
- Sunita Mani as TV Musical - Queen
- Aaron Lazar as TV Musical - Soldier
- Audrey Wasilewski as Alpha RV Officer
- Daniel Scheinert as District Manager
Randy Newman also appears in an uncredited role as Chad's raccoon, although the official soundtrack credits Newman as a featured artist on the track "Now We're Cookin'".[6]
Themes
Everything Everywhere All at Once explores the concepts of the meaning of life and nihilism; according to Charles Bramesco of The Guardian: "The bagel of doom and its tightening grip on Evelyn's Gen Z daughter lend themselves to the climactic declaration that there's nothing worse than submitting to the nihilism so trendy with the next generation. Our lone hope of recourse is to embrace all the love and beauty surrounding us, if only we're present enough to see it."[7]
Consequence's Clint Worthington wrote that, "for all its dadaist absurdism and blink-if-you-miss-it pace, Daniels weaves the chaotic possibilities into the multiverse into a cohesive story about the aches and pains of the road not traveled, and the need to carve out your own meaning in a meaningless universe."[8] Describing Jobu Tupaki's modus operandi, Worthington notes "the living contradiction that is the everything bagel: if you put everything on a bagel, what more is left? And if you've experienced everything that the multiverse can offer, what's the point of any of it?"[8]
Co-director Daniel Kwan stated that the everything bagel concept "did two things. It allowed us to talk about nihilism without being too eye roll-y. And it creates a MacGuffin: a doomsday device. If in the first half of the movie, people think that the bagel is here to destroy the world, and in the second half you realize it's a depressed person trying to destroy themselves; it just takes everything about action movies and turns it into something more personal."[9]
Production
Development and writing
Co-directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan stated they began researching the concept of the multiverse in 2010, after being exposed to the concept of modal realism in the 1986 film Sherman's March.[9] Kwan described the release of the 2018 film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which also features a multiverse concept, as "a little upsetting because we were like, 'Oh shit, everyone's going to beat us to this thing we've been working on.'"[9] He also stated, "Watching the second season of Rick and Morty was really painful. I was like, 'They've already done all the ideas we thought were original!' It was a really frustrating experience. So I stopped watching Rick and Morty while we were writing this project."[9]
In early drafts, the directors planned for the main character to have undiagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); through his research for the project, Kwan learned that he himself had undiagnosed ADHD.[10]
The universe in which Evelyn trains in martial arts and becomes an action movie star features scenes visually and contextually inspired by the films of Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai;[9] Chris Lee of Vulture wrote that these scenes "conjur[e] a mood of exquisite romantic yearning that will be instantly recognizable [...] as touchstones" of Wong's works.[9] The universe in which Evelyn and Joy are rocks was influenced by the 1969 children's book Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and the 2017 video game Everything.[9]
Kwan stated that the idea of the everything bagel created by Jobu Tupaki "started as just a throwaway joke."[9] Scheinert noted that they spent time attempting to develop the religion of bagel followers, but encountered complications: "[Jobu Tupaki]'s a nihilist; should there be dogma? Should there be a book? What should their practices be as a religion? The bagel stuck because it became such a useful, simple symbol that we could point to as filmmakers. And you don't have to explain it much beyond the joke."[9]
Casting
During pre-production, Jackie Chan was considered for the starring role; the script was originally written for him before Kwan and Scheinert changed their minds and re-conceived the lead role as a woman, feeling it would make the husband-wife dynamic in the story more relatable.[11]
When the script was initially rewritten with the lead character as a woman, the character was renamed "Michelle Wang"; according to Michelle Yeoh, "If you ask the Daniels, when they started on this draft, they focused on, 'Well, we are doing this for Michelle Yeoh.'"[12] The character's name was ultimately changed to Evelyn; despite the parallels in the final film between Yeoh and the universe in which Evelyn is a martial artist and movie star,[13] Yeoh opposed naming the character Michelle, stating that "She is not called Michelle because [...] Evelyn deserves her own story to be told. This is a very ordinary mother [and] housewife who is trying her best to be a good mother to her daughter, a good daughter to her father, a wife that's trying to keep the family together [...] I don't like to integrate me, Michelle Yeoh, into the characters that I play, because they all deserve their own journey and their stories to be told."[13]
It was announced in August 2018 that Yeoh and Awkwafina were cast to star in an "interdimensional action film" from Kwan and Scheinert, with Anthony and Joe Russo set to produce.[14] Awkwafina exited the project due to scheduling conflicts in January 2020. Stephanie Hsu, James Hong, Ke Huy Quan, and Jamie Lee Curtis were added to the cast, with Hsu replacing Awkwafina.
Filming
Filming began in January 2020 and A24 acquired the distribution rights to the film.[15]
Release and reception
Everything Everywhere All at Once had its world premiere at the South by Southwest film festival on March 11, 2022.[16] It had a limited release in theaters on March 25, 2022,[17] followed by a nationwide release on April 8, in the United States by A24.[18]
Box office
In the United States and Canada, the film earned an estimated $509,600 from ten theaters in its opening weekend. Its debut had a theater average of $50,965, which was the second-best since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic for a platform release, behind Licorice Pizza, and the best opening theater average in 2022 at the time of its release.[19] In its second weekend the film made $1.1 million from 38 theaters, finishing ninth at the box office.[20] The film received a wide expansion in its third weekend, going from 38 venues to 1,250 theaters.[21][22] It ended up making $6.1 million, finishing sixth at the box office.[23][24] Playing in 2,220 theaters the following weekend, the film made $6.2 million, finishing fourth.[25]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 220 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Led by an outstanding Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once lives up to its title with an expertly calibrated assault on the senses."[26] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[27] Audiences polled by PostTrak gave it an 89% positive score, with 77% saying they would definitely recommend it.[23] Shortly after its release, the film became the highest-rated on Letterboxd, displacing Parasite (2019).[28]
David Ehrlich of IndieWire called it an "orgiastic work of slaphappy genius", praising the direction and performances, particularly Yeoh's.[29] The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney called it a "frenetically plotted serve of stoner heaven [that] is insanely imaginative and often a lot of fun", complimenting the cast and score but found the handling of the story's underlying theme underwhelming.[30] In her review for RogerEbert.com, Marya E. Gates commended Yeoh's performance, writing "Yeoh is the anchor of the film, given a role that showcases her wide range of talents, from her fine martial art skills to her superb comic timing to her ability to excavate endless depths of rich human emotion often just from a glance or a reaction".[31] Charles Bramesco, writing for The Guardian, complimented the Daniels for constructing a "large, elaborate, polished and detailed expression of a vision".[7]
In her review for Vanity Fair, Maureen Ryan highlighted Yeoh's performance, writing "Yeoh imbues Evelyn with moving shades of melancholy, regret, resolve and growing curiosity" and adding she "makes her embrace of lead-character energy positively gripping".[32] Adam Nayman of The Ringer referred to the film as "a love letter to Yeoh" adding, "Everything Everywhere All At Once is extremely poignant, giving its 59-year-old star a chance to flex unexpected acting muscles while revisiting the high-flying fight choreography that made her a global icon back in the 1990s".[33] In his review for Chicago Sun-Times, Jake Coyle wrote that though Everything Everywhere "can verge on overload, it’s this liberating sense of limitless possibility that the movie leaves you filled with, both in its freewheeling anything-goes playfulness and in its surprisingly tender portrait of existential despair".[34]
Music
The band Son Lux composed the musical score.[35] The 49-track soundtrack was released on April 8, 2022, and includes collaborations with Mitski, David Byrne, a flute-playing André 3000, Randy Newman, Moses Sumney, and yMusic, plus others.[36]
All tracks are written by Son Lux, except where noted
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "This Is a Life (Extended)" (ft. Mitski and David Byrne) | 3:35 | |
2. | "Wang Family Portrait" | 1:47 | |
3. | "Very Busy" | 5:09 | |
4. | "Vvvery Busy" | 2:05 | |
5. | "What Are You Thinking About?" | 2:02 | |
6. | "What a Fast Elevator!" | 2:44 | |
7. | "Switch Shoes to the Wrong Feet" | 1:46 | |
8. | "Nothing Could Possibly Matter More" | 2:22 | |
9. | "A Choice" | 1:42 | |
10. | "Chapstick" | 1:49 | |
11. | "The Fanny Pack" | 1:49 | |
12. | "Jobu Tupaki" | 2:03 | |
13. | "The Alphaverse" | 1:53 | |
14. | "The Mission" (ft. Nina Moffitt) | 2:20 | |
15. | "Deirdre Fight" | 5:02 | |
16. | "Waymond Cries" | 0:37 | |
17. | "I Love You Kung Fu" | 1:46 | |
18. | "My Life Without You" (ft. André Benjamin) | 1:33 | |
19. | "The Story of Jobu" (ft. Nina Moffitt) | 1:14 | |
20. | "Rendezvous at the Premiere" | 1:25 | |
21. | "It's You... Juju Toobootie" (ft. Chris Pattishall and Nina Moffitt) | 1:12 | |
22. | "Everything Bagel" | 2:18 | |
23. | "You're Living Your Worst You" | 2:27 | |
24. | "The Boxcutter" (ft. André Benjamin) | 2:20 | |
25. | "Send Every Available Jumper" | 2:42 | |
26. | "Opera Fight" (ft. Surrija and yMusic) | 2:17 | |
27. | "Dog Fight" (ft. André Benjamin) | 1:36 | |
28. | "Drummer Fight" | 1:00 | |
29. | "Plug Fight" | 2:34 | |
30. | "Pinky Fight" (ft. André Benjamin) | 1:14 | |
31. | "I Have Been Watching" (ft. Rob Moose and Nina Moffitt) | 1:38 | |
32. | "Somewhere Out There in All That Noise" | 1:26 | |
33. | "Jobu Sees All" | 2:05 | |
34. | "The Temple" | 2:21 | |
35. | "Evelyn Everywhere" | 3:28 | |
36. | "Evelyn All at Once" | 2:29 | |
37. | "This Is How I Fight" | 2:40 | |
38. | "In Another Life" | 2:24 | |
39. | "It All Just Goes Away" | 2:44 | |
40. | "Clair de Lune (Pied au Piano)" (ft. Chris Pattishall) | Claude Debussy | 1:38 |
41. | "Come Recover (Empathy Fight)" | 7:13 | |
42. | "Your Day Will Come (Empathy Fight)" | 3:05 | |
43. | "Let Me Go" | 2:01 | |
44. | "Specks of Time" | 2:49 | |
45. | "This Is a Life" (ft. Mitski and David Byrne) | 2:41 | |
46. | "Fence" | 3:35 | |
47. | "Now We're Cookin'" (ft. Randy Newman) | 2:14 | |
48. | "Sucked Into a Bagel" (ft. Stephanie Hsu) | 2:30 | |
49. | "I Love You" | 0:38 | |
Total length: | 114:02 |
Notes
- ^ Mandarin: "maternal grandfather"
- ^ A play on a type of bagel called an "everything bagel", which is baked with a large variety of toppings; in the film, the "everything bagel" that Jobu Tupaki creates is topped with "literally everything"[5] in the multiverse.
References
- ^ Wiseman, Andreas (October 26, 2021). "A24 Launches Sales On Michelle Yeoh Sci-Fi Everything Everywhere All At Once — AFM". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
- ^ "Everything Everywhere All at Once". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- ^ "Everything Everywhere All at Once". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- ^ Scott, A. O. (March 24, 2022). "'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Review: It's Messy, and Glorious". The New York Times. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
- ^ Nicholson, Amy (March 24, 2022). "'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Review: A Maximal Take on the Absurd". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
- ^ a b Krol, Charlotte (February 24, 2022). "André 3000, Mitski and more to feature on 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' soundtrack". NME. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
- ^ a b Bramesco, Charles (March 22, 2022). "Everything Everywhere All At Once review – ambitious, exhausting trip to the multiverse". The Guardian. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
- ^ a b Worthington, Clint (March 24, 2022). "Everything Everywhere All At Once Is A Lot, and That's a Good Thing: Review". Consequence. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Lee, Chris (April 13, 2022). "Daniels Unpack the Everything Bagel of Influences Behind Everything Everywhere All at Once". Vulture. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
- ^ Pasternack, Alex (April 7, 2022). "'Everything Everywhere All at Once' is a mesmerizing ode to our chaos". Fast Company. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
- ^ Bergeson, Samantha; Bergeson, Samantha (March 15, 2022). "Michelle Yeoh's Role in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Was Originally Written for Jackie Chan". IndieWire. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
- ^ Smart, Jack (April 13, 2022). "Michelle Yeoh on the roller coaster ride of Everything Everywhere All At Once". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
- ^ a b Radulovic, Petrana (April 11, 2022). "Michelle Yeoh's personal guide to Everything Everywhere All At Once's vast multiverse". Polygon. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
- ^ Galuppo, Mia (August 30, 2018). "Michelle Yeoh, Awkwafina in Talks for Film From 'Swiss Army Man' Directors". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
- ^ Fleming Jr, Mike (January 22, 2020). "A24 Reunites With 'Swiss Army Man' Directors; Finance & Distribute AGBO's 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
- ^ Grobar, Matt (December 8, 2021). "'Everything Everywhere All At Once': SXSW Sets Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's A24 Pic As Opening Night Film". Deadline. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Gerber, Jamie (December 17, 2021). "Everything Everywhere All At Once: Release Date, Cast, And More". /Film. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
- ^ Goldsmith, Jill. "'Everything Everywhere All Once' Blasts Off With Record Opening For A24 – Specialty Box Office". Deadline. Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
- ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (March 27, 2022). "The Lost City Seeing Record Pandemic Opening For Female Driven Comedy With $31M". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ "Domestic 2022 Weekend 13". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
- ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (April 6, 2022). "Sonic The Hedgehog 2 To Keep Spring Thing Going With $50M+ Start – Box Office Preview". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
- ^ Robbins, Shawn (April 6, 2022). "Weekend Box Office Forecast: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 May Break Out as Ambulance and Everything Everywhere All at Once Counter-Program". Boxoffice Pro. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
- ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (April 10, 2022). "Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Beats Weekend Opening Of First Movie With $71M; What Ambulance Misfire Means For Action Pics Today – Sunday AM Box Office Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
- ^ "Domestic 2022 Weekend 14". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
- ^ "Domestic 2022 Weekend 15". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- ^ "Everything Everywhere All at Once". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
- ^ "Everything Everywhere All at Once". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
- ^ "Everything Everywhere All at Once—Including the Number One Spot on Letterboxd". letterboxd.com. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
- ^ Ehrlich, David (March 12, 2022). "'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Review: 'The Matrix' Meets the Multiverse in Daniels' Instant Classic". IndieWire. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
- ^ Rooney, David (March 12, 2022). "Michelle Yeoh in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once': Film Review | SXSW 2022". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
- ^ Gates, Marya E. (March 12, 2022). "Everything Everywhere All at Once movie review (2022)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
- ^ "Ambitious, Outrageous 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Is All That and More". Vanity Fair. April 8, 2022. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
- ^ Nayman, Adam (March 28, 2022). "'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Fulfills the Promise of Its Title". The Ringer. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
- ^ "'Everything Everywhere All at Once' a playful skip through the multiverses of hot-dog fingers and cooking raccoons". Chicago Sun-Times. March 30, 2022. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
- ^ "Son Lux Scoring Daniel Kwan's & Daniel Scheinert's Everything Everywhere All at Once". Film Music Reporter. January 3, 2022. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
- ^ Hatfield, Amanda (February 23, 2022). "Mitski, David Byrne, Andre 3000 & more feature on Son Lux's Everything Everywhere All at Once score". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
- ^ "Everything Everywhere All at Once (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". Amazon.com. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
External links
- 2022 films
- 2022 action comedy films
- 2022 LGBT-related films
- 2022 science fiction films
- A24 (company) films
- Alternate timeline films
- American action comedy films
- American films
- American science fiction films
- Asian-American drama films
- Chinese-American films
- Films about parallel universes
- Films shot in Los Angeles
- LGBT-related science fiction comedy films
- Chinese-American LGBT-related films
- Mother and daughter films