<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>

Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. Starring Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr, Tallie Medel

Hot on the heels of Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness, comes this film about regular people being heroes to save themselves and their relationships.

The first half of Everything Everywhere All At Once you’ll wonder what the hell is going on. But the insanely mad action and events of it all will begin to make sense once you see the method behind the madness. And the purpose of it all will make us both question and realise things about our own lives, hopes, regrets and aspirations.

Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once

It’s worth noting that this indie film made on a much small budget compared to any Marvel movie has made lots of money and has gotten brilliant reviews. It has used the whole multiple universe premise in a way that will touch people’s own lives and be real and relevant.

Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) is a Chinese-American and she co-owns a laundry with her husband Waymond (played by Ke Huy Quan; is the character’s name poking fun at their pronunciation like Waymond instead of Raymond?). She’s tired and unhappy with her life, tries hard to accept her gay daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), and her old-fashioned father Gong Gong (James Hong), while balancing the business accounts and indulging her many creative passions.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once

On a trip to the IRS – where Deirdre Beaubeirdra (over-the-top Jamie Lee Curtis) is auditing them – Evelyn’s husband turns in to another person. He’s from a parallel universe and wants her to help him fight Jobu Tupaki who verse-jumps trying to destroy other realities. Evelyn can inculcate super powers from other Evelyn’s in other verses by doing silly things like drinking a bottle of soda pop. Other accomplices of Jobu can do that too, with hilarious outcomes.

While all these fantastic and absurd sequences transpire – just like in any Marvel movie but with less CGI – the human aspects, dilemmas and motivations surface from the emotion of the film – unlike most Marvel movies. It’s about relationships between family, friendship, regrets, being happy with your life as it is, knowing that the decisions you’ve made may, after all, be the right ones.

Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere All at Once

Funny, heart warming, silly, over-the-top, surreal, slapstick, poignant and more, Everything Everywhere All At Once makes you think about your life and perhaps be a bit happier with it.

Watch the trailer: