So yesterday, I watched Everything Everywhere All at Once for the first time with my family. I had watched quite a few Youtube video essays hyping the film up, and I also knew Michelle Yeoh as Emperor Phillipa Georgiou on Star Trek: Discovery. However, I still don't think any of that *quite* prepared me for just what I saw yesterday, though!!
Ok, so, *Holy Cow!!* This movie is one of the most brilliant things I've seen in recent memory, and has one of the most inventive bait-and-switch storytelling tactics that I've *ever* encountered, to boot!! So for the first hour, or so, quite frankly, it just doesn't seem like it all adds up to much; I mean, yeah, it's very fun, funny and entertaining, but it's mostly just a very weird and random, goofy science fantasy comedy that leans very heavily on very crude shock humor. But then, it completely hits you where you're least expecting it to!! It flips the seemingly goofy reality hopping gimmick used throughout the movie's first half into a very clever story-telling device for a surprisingly deep exploration of philosophical ideas like nihilism and existentialism!! In addition, this tone-flipping of the movie's reality-hopping excursions does a lot to personalize the movie's story, turning it from a very random, and very goofy, action adventure film, into a surprisingly real and relatable exploration of the often-complicated relationships that Michelle Yeoh's Evelyn has with almost everyone in her family, including her Daughter, Husband and Father!! That's all I can say about the movie without really spoiling it for anyone, but I'd still love to hear what anyone else thought about it!! And feel free to spoil it away, too, if you really need to, to get all your thoughts and feelings out!!
