Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) is a pretty unremarkable laundromat owner, torn almost beyond capacity between running her business, being a good wife to her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) - who tries to serve her divorce papers without her even noticing -, a good mother to her teenaged daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) who has come to resent her, a good daughter to her father Gong Gong (James Hong), who has come over from China to live with her only resently, and then there's also that tax audit, and the lady from the IRS, Deirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis) is less than happy with what she sees. Thing is, at the IRS Waymond reveals to her he's not her husband at all but Waymond from another dimension, and that she is at the center of what could be an implosion of all dimensions of the multiverse, that has been created by all the choices all of us make. But why Evelyn - because she's not good at anything, and thus capable of everything, she's the result of all the bad decision she has made while all other Evelyn's live (seemingly) better lives. However, the implosion is to be caused by Jobu Tupaki, who's Evelyn's daughter Joy from the alpha universe, whom alpha Evelyn, a brilliant scientist, has experimented on, and Jobu Tupaki now wants to kill Evelyn - ultimately by sucking her into a donut (don't ask) to really end life as it is in every timeline. As a consequence, what starts with evelyn punching the tax lady ultimately leads to a conflict that quickly goes completely out of bounds where Evelyn gets martial arts and other skills from other universes, where she learns that one can live a good life with hot dogs for fingers or even just be a stone. But she also realizes she just can't kill her own daughter, however estranged they are, and even if it means to save the world, all worlds. But there might be another way ...

Ok, the "love conquers everything"-ending is a bit too much and also a too conventional ending for a totally unconventional film that in a way makes both total sense and no sense at all, that might take some cues from The Matrix, but then amps the craziness to eleven, and most importantly doesn't it take itself seriously at all - but despite some crude jokes (that include butt plugs and eating flies), this is not a film that ever just veers off into the moronic but despite all lunacy stays on course and presents its audience with many an exciting action setpiece, some great visuals, besides on-spot performances by Michelle Yeoh and the whole ensemble, and an absolute willingness to just entertain. And even though the film's a bit too long at 140 minutes, this mission mostly succeeds.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned)

The links below will take you just there!!!

Find Everything Everywhere All at Once at the amazons ...   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.de Looking for imports? Find Everything Everywhere All at Once here ...   eThaiCD.com Your shop for all things Thai

Thanks for watching !!!