Everything Everywhere All at Once

Mr Crispy

Multiverses may be quickly becoming de rigueur, but as this is from Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Swiss Army Man), it could be inventive fun. And Yeoh is awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxN1T1uxQ2g

johnny_ultimate

I think Swiss Army Man was more interesting as a zany concept than an actual movie, but this does look impressive.

I mean, if you’re going to do a multiverse movie, at least do so firing on all visual cylinders. And hire the great Michelle Yeoh and James Hong.

pixelburp

James Hong? 92 and still ticking, what a pro.

This looks utterly insane, in the best possible way. Say what you will, A24 rarely go half-àssed and this looks ....Uh. full? Àss?

As said multiverses have become mainstream but I'll immediately give my attention to anything that tries to be a bit different. Michelle Yeoh is a great choice for lead; she gets too many cameos and smaller parts; being completely wasted in Shang Chi, most recently.

TheIrishGrover

You had me at "Michelle Yeoh and James Hong"

Hallaz

A lot packed in there, feels like the movie could be 5 hours long!

Slydice

It's A24, it easily could be 5 hours long 😁

megaten

Swiss Army man was one of those films where the tailer was better than the movie for me so I hope this isn't the same since it looks like great fun.

johnny_ultimate

There was a bit of uncertainty around the release date of this in Ireland the last week or two. A UK release date of May 13th was announced, but then the Light House said they'd been told May 20th for Ireland. But now it seems as if it's May 13th here after all as well. So not long left to go at all, and seems Cineworld has an Unlimited Screening on May 10th as well.

The rapturous response from the US has me both excited and somewhat cautious! As an aside though, I didn't pick out from the trailer that Ke Huy Quan, one of the leads, is 'Short Round' from Indiana Jones and 'Data' in The Goonies. He's been getting lots of praise for his work here (alongside Yeoh and the rest of the cast) and really great to see him having a career renaissance after all these years.

pixelburp

Do you mean to say May, not March? Am also looking forward to a chance to see this, the hype though has been unreal.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119014172#Comment_119014172

I mean, does time *really* mean anything anymore?

(But yes, May :P)

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119014172#Comment_119014172

Saw it last week over here - loved it! So weird and wild, like a schizophrenic multiverse version of The Matrix, and at the same time waaaay more emotionally impactful than it has any right to be.

Drumpot

Really Looking forward to this. I’m struggling to make the 7.40 tonight in coolock odeon, might just have to wait until it’s out proper at weekend.

Drumpot

Went to this today, was nothing like I expected but it really resonated with me. I would give it 9/10 for how it stayed with me long after the movie was over, in a profound way. It’s also bonkers at times but if you just go with it , it’s worth it.

This is not like a Paul Anderson movie but I have to say I found the emotional punch comparable with punch drunk love and magnolia.

This Is not an action movie, I’d argue it’s not even a fantasy movie. I don’t know how to put up spoilers but not even sure the following is technically a spoiler but want to warn I preferred knowing little about this going into it. So don’t read next bit if you’d rather go in blind.

For me the movie was about connection and meaning in life even when it can all seem so pointless . I’d say more but I don’t oreally want to spoil what others may (or may not) get from this.

I challange anybody who has felt lonely or feels lost in life to keep their eyes dry throughout. I admit I had some dust in my eyes for parts of the movie! Im glad I went on my own to this as it’s one of those movies that is not necessarily gonna resonate with everybody.

johnny_ultimate

I enjoyed it a lot, with a few reservations.

The two Daniels really went all in with the visual and editing potential of the multiverse concept. The film is visually chaotic, and I mean that in a good way. Images are constantly clashing and overlapping and breaking apart and that’s exactly how it should be. ‘Multiverses’ are in vogue in superhero land now, but not one of them (apart from Spiderverse, naturally!) has or will have a fraction of the filmmaking imagination this one has. Whether it’s a pitch perfect Wong Kar Wai homage or a bizarre Ratatouille satire, there’s never a shortage of cool ideas on display. The frequent fight scenes are shot with clarity and oomph, and the storytelling and flow remains coherent even when images only stick around for a few frames (if even, in the film’s most striking multiverse collisions).

Michelle Yeoh is always great, and Ke Huy Quan is a delight. Kudos to Jamie Lee Curtis for being so game for everything.

High concept stuff aside, the underlying story of family and the power of kindness is sweet if a little simplistic and predictable. It’s definitely charming overall, but a certain amount of repetition does set in as the film progresses. It’s quite a long film and despite the relentless pace it does kind of get caught up repeating itself or over-egging the pudding a good few times. Thankfully there are lots of delightful, warm-hearted moments in the extended finale that make it worthwhile. I did feel they maybe made Evelyn a bit too much of an asshole in the first half of the film - if our sympathies weren’t naturally drawn to Michelle Yeoh, that’d be more of an issue.

It’s perhaps the humour that left me most on the fence. Don’t get me wrong, some of it is very funny. But between this and Swiss Army Man I’m definitely not totally on Daniels’ wavelength when it comes to gags. Some of the ‘bits’ here definitely overstay their welcome, including a few that weren’t super funny first time around (personally could’ve done with fewer visits to the hotdog universe). Again, there are definitely funny bits - and your mileage will vary! But the rapid fire humour ranges from random dildo gags to high-concept visual flights of fancy, so it’s no surprise the hit rate is a bit all over the place.

But all in all it’s anarchic fun - all over the place by design, and generally better for it. I honestly found my impressions of it wavering as it went along - it’s quite the voyage - but ultimately I think I settled on ‘this is pretty good’. That makes for a plenty worthwhile Friday night at the cinema.

santana75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119058107#Comment_119058107

I'm going to this later this evening knowing very little about it but I suspect, having read your thoughts, that It may be a film that I'll really like.

Drumpot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119060371#Comment_119060371

Enjoy,

I know I said it’s not an action or fantasy movie as it certainly is and I’m sure to some the action/fantasy/ crazy/funny stuff will be more then entertaining on its own. But that was just eye candy, fun background stuff for me.

What really surprised me was that I felt the underlying Themes of connection and being nice to each other were what singles this movie out. I thought it was a beautiful reminder to what gives life meaning , particularly when you feel so lost and everything feels pointless. You could hate the crazy stuff and still take something meaningful from it.

santana75

I enjoyed it a lot even though I was confused as to which universe was which at any given time. I'd agree the above comment in relation to the hotdog universe.......I didn't warm to that at all. But what I did warm to was Michele Yeoh's husband, he was brilliant. Afterwards I looked up the cast only to find that he is none other than short round himself! That blew my mind, I always wondered what happened to him. He's so good in this and I really hope this will be a springboard to even bigger and better things. Jamie Lee Curtis is also brilliant and all in all a unique, energetic sometimes profound movie.

Spon Farmer

A fantastic movie with a big heart.

Don’t know how to say anymore without spoilers but I think if I started typing that I’d be here for hours as there is so much to discuss.

FunLover18

I'm fully on board this train! I went in with very high expectations having heard all the praise it's getting and it exceeded every one. I think it's a masterpiece, it made me laugh, gasp, and cry. It so much heart but it never lets up on the entertainment either. The performances are all superb and it looks **** gorgeous. One of my favourite films of all time.

Spon Farmer

There better be a directors’ commentary on the home release

DrZeuss

What an absolutely absurd movie (the random scenes, not the fairly straightforward underlying story).....but I enjoyed every minute of it. A movie with so many laugh out loud moments and complete ridiculous scenes has no right to hit you in the feels.

Now, how on earth do you describe this to someone to convince them to watch it? 😂

Ash.J.Williams

Looking forward to this , Sundays viewing 😂

pixelburp

Checkov's Butt Plug.

Came for the visual inventiveness and unrepentantly absurdist approach to the multiverse, but stayed for the surprisingly sweet, human tale; this was the 2nd fantasy film watched in 12 months about Chinese immigrant mothers, struggling to understand their young daughters. No question, this will be a Film of the Year contender - and may persist past that when totting up films of the decade. This was cinema flourished as a tool to express our wildest ideas, without constraint or mandate. The madness will probably be what most people talk about, but it was all underpinned by a really bittersweet story of regret and connection; a beating empathic heart that kept events relatable as they spiralled into gleeful silliness.

Every performance was absolutely fantastic; and while Michelle Yeoh was the star, Ke Huy Quan ran away with it, playing a half dozen variants of himself, each with charisma and varying degrees of heartbreak worn across his face. And a small shout-out for James Hong: 93 years and still acting with wily authority.

Fysh

I saw this today and it was absolutely excellent, easily one of the best things I've seen in the last couple of years and doing a great job on both the absurdist fantasy elements and the character elements, with a much stronger emotional punch than I might normally expect from a film playing with concepts like the multiverse.

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119092424#Comment_119092424

I have this dilemma too.

Spon Farmer

@pixelburp

what is the other film?

FunLover18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119095868#Comment_119095868

Turning Red?

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119095890#Comment_119095890

Are you saying that is the film or asking?

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119095868#Comment_119095868

Yes, Turning Red. Basically both films had the same thematic backbone within their main characters. The Pixar film seemed to come from the writer/director's own youth; but funny how cinematic coincidences occur.

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119095963#Comment_119095963

Two big budget asteroid movies

Two buddy cop dog movies

:)

There was even a movie similar to Phone Booth. Can’t remember the name though

McDermotX

Echo some of what's already been said in the thread......absurd over the top fun. Some genuine laugh out loud moments and never strays too far from its tongue-in-cheek approach to the overall story. While a relatively simple outline of a family story plays against an entire chaotic multi-universe backdrop, the fast pace never allows space to question too much, and while not an easy job to corral all this together, the filmmakers done a relatively admirable job keeping the strands coherent, not to mention allowing its absurdities to actually feel at home in the proceedings.

But, that fast pace flow doesn't lend itself entirely to what is an unnecessarily long run-time, which does let it down a small bit, which is a shame. Perhaps a tighter hand was needed in the editing suite, especially after the first hour, to perhaps trim it by 15-20mins. 140mins isn't extreme in the grand scheme of things nowadays, but given the breezy feel of this and how quickly the events are established across the small range of characters, there's a soft lull which is somewhat distracting. Having said that, at least the filmmakers were allowed to have the film in this form at all.

All in all, a very solid recommendation, and a very fun way to spend a couple hours. Yeoh is excellent as always, with Short Round providing an excellent foil, and it's always fun to see James Hong enjoying himself even with his advanced years.

Your man who plays the Husband is the kid data from the Goonies !!!

pixelburp

So this has become A24's biggest hit domestically, pocketing $52 million in its 9 week cinema run. Such small fry compared with that other Multiverse movie trampling the box office but it's great to read such a small film doing so comparatively well.

Only $6 million internationally, but it doesn't look like it got such an extensive release that it might have made more than that.

2smiggy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119103484#Comment_119103484

and short round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Tried watching this, and failed. Might give it another go as I was a bit hungover trying to watch it, and it only made it worse !

OwaynOTT

Wonderful movie

gmisk

Well that was one wild ride of a film.

Almost too many ideas and definitely too long, but you have to applaud the ambition of the whole thing! Michelle Yeoh is amazing in the lead.

Spoiler Warning

Hot dog fingers and racoon version of ratatouille particularly random!

Fysh

Not sure I agree about the running time/pace myself - like Die Hard, I thought this was a great example of a film over 2 hours long that doesn't feel like it, whereas for me most blockbusters (notably, but not exclusively, the MCU films) hit similar runtimes but feel empty and dragged out such that the last half hour or so has me constantly thinking "yeah yeah, get on with it".

pixelburp

$83.5 Million worldwide now; man it'd be awesome if this crept into the $100 million bracket, though I suspect it'll start getting squeezed out of cinemas now that the summer slush is upon us. If it hasn't already; the film really ticket away quietly.

I read in passing, and keep meaning to see how well it stacks up, a theory that the whole movie is actually in Evelyn's head. Not sure I buy into it - but it's cool it has already started these kind of conversations.

CastorTroy

Dunno. Michelle Yeoh just wasn't convincing as a rock. 🤔 Surprised they didn't go for the low hanging fruit of making a Dwayne Johnson joke in those scenes.

Was a good film. Bit mad but in a good way.

seraphimvc

Watched it at home over the weekend aha I enjoyed it, I already heard that it is a better 'multiverse' movie from recent years but actually -

I would say that the movie is good as being refreshing, managed the balance well between family drama, actions and plot, particularly scratching the itch of an long overdue jackiechan-ish action movie. And funny yes, this just might be a better 'multiverse' film than the other huge budget blockbuster...

So ya, the refreshing part is that the team dares to go big with the 'multiverse' concept (well personally to me it is not that crazyyy) but pretty damn 'wild' enough for a film for mass audience, definitely a more memorable product from A24. And with such a low budget too! This really shows that there are actually people out there with brains and passion huh....

I must compliment on the family drama part as the culture stuff is spot on and overall felt organic. The daughter/gf part just felt natural and real - like you dont feel stuffs get shoehorned into it (compared to the sea of 'woke' shite out there literally just like ticking boxes for a tasteless product).

But ya watch it if you are a fan of old HK comedy action movies (the guy actually looks like jackie chan aha and i think they did try to get JC on it ha) - this is a must watch. Michelle Yeoh is awesome!

Agent Coulson

It is getting a cinema re-release with an extra 8 minutes added it Stateside.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119365473#Comment_119365473

Delighted to hear that; hopefully it won't be like Morbius, and if it broke the €100 million ceiling that'd be an awesome story for this film.

ixoy

I tried to watch this as a streaming rental, but for some reason it's on none of the standards services such as Google TV, Rakuten, etc. Yet it is available in the UK and indeed some other EU countries. I thought we were nearly always tied with UK releases?

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119461271#Comment_119461271

My understanding is A24 released this themselves directly in Ireland & the UK (as opposed to through another distributor as they usually do), and there was plenty of confusion around cinema release dates. So I wouldn't be surprised if there was also some confusion / messiness around the VOD launch.

Fysh

There's zero information about the UK Blu-Ray release, though it is available as a rental on a Spanish streaming platform that can be accessed in the UK. I am eager to buy a copy on disc, which makes the lack of information a bit annoying.

Slydice

Gave this a watch. Laughed so much! Michelle Yeoh was great!

Her acting range and especially when she dug down for the heartful range was just brilliant!

Agent Coulson

Added to Prime and well worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

FunLover18

Not showing on Prime for me ☹️

Shred

Yeah it looks like it’s only available to rent on Sky here atm, I can only assume it’s on a non-Irish Prime region?

Edit: yep it’s on US Prime - https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/everything-everywhere-all-at-once

ixoy

It's on Prime in Ireland now - just watched it and very glad I did. It was not at all what I was expecting all the better for it.

Muppet Man

Just watched on prime. Wow. That was different! Some very random stuff there. Enjoyable though.