Everything Everywhere All at Once

This was an entertaining film with a never-been-better Michelle Yeoh, that had a great concept, albeit not an entirely original one - think if Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams had written “The Matrix” - that needed just a bit more editing and hand-holding to trim and solidify its storytelling. 

At 139 minutes long, it could have possibly trimmed down by at least 15 to 30 minutes just to tighten the narrative. It was way too heavy on clunky exposition and too focused on world building - the Daniels (or the producers) seemingly had no faith in its audience and their IQ - that at times it lost sight of its characters and their emotional arcs. Ultimately, the theme of parenthood, growing up and letting go, familial bonds were the backbone of the film, but it also did not need to be hammered in so inelegantly - funny at times, yes - towards the final act. 

The first act was brilliant. It had so much potential. Introducing the core characters and their internal conflicts. The code switching employed by Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan was fun and authentic from a SEA Asian’s POV. But then the second act was laden with all the problems above: meandering, clunky, unfocused. And finally at the third act, again, it took too long to get to the expected end. The Daniels had a lot of cool ideas and moments, but by throwing everything on the screen, they ended up sacrificing the storytelling itself. 

Thankfully, they had Yeoh. She absolutely nailed her role and showed that she was capable of comedy and drama. There were well earned emotional pathos and laugh out loud moments despite the film’s fault. And her screen chemistry with on screen daughter Stephanie Hsu was a highlight. Hsu looked like she was having so much fun in her role and it showed. The biggest miscast was Quan. Not only did he lacked chemistry with Yeoh which was so integral to one of the main arcs of the film, but his Mandarin was just so off kilter with the others especially to the ears of native speakers (non-speakers seemed to have less issues with that). However, in addition, his portrayal seemed verging on slapstick a la Stephen Chow of old that, again, was incongruent with the others (perhaps that was a deliberate choice? It did not work). 

This film - and its idea - would have been the perfect Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, or even Christopher Moore or Jasper Fforde book. Authors who excelled in absurdist, almost irreverently black, but logical sci-fi comedy drama. 

Actually come to think of it, this film was actually like a mashup of two Wachowskis films “The Matrix” meets “Cloud Atlas”. 

The Daniels have created a fascinating and encouraging follow up film following the equally irreverent comedy “Swiss Army Man” and it will be exciting to see what come next. Or will they get sucked into the MCU?