Everything Everywhere All at Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a 2022 American science fiction action-comedy film directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels. The film stars Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn Wang, a Chinese-American immigrant struggling to keep her family and laundromat business afloat. When she is suddenly thrust into a multiverse-spanning adventure, Evelyn must connect with parallel universe versions of herself to prevent a cosmic threat.

The film premiered at the South by Southwest film festival on March 11, 2022, and was released in theaters by A24 on March 25. It became a critical and commercial success, grossing over $139 million worldwide against a $25 million budget. At the 95th Academy Awards, it won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for Yeoh, and Best Supporting Actor for Ke Huy Quan.[edit]

Evelyn Wang is a middle-aged Chinese-American woman living a life far removed from her youthful dreams. She co-owns and operates a struggling laundromat with her kind but seemingly naive husband, Waymond. Their relationship is strained, with Evelyn contemplating divorce. Adding to her stress, Evelyn is preparing for a visit from her judgmental father, Gong Gong, and is struggling to connect with her daughter, Joy, who is openly gay and wants Evelyn to be more accepting of her girlfriend, Becky.

The central conflict of Evelyn's life, however, is an impending audit by the IRS. A stern and intimidating IRS agent, Deirdre Beaubeirdre, is scheduled to review the laundromat's finances, a prospect that fills Evelyn with dread. During a tense meeting at the IRS building, Evelyn's world is abruptly shattered. A version of Waymond from another universe, Alpha Waymond, appears and reveals that Evelyn is the key to saving the entire multiverse from a powerful, nihilistic entity known as Jobu Tupaki.

Alpha Waymond explains that the multiverse is real, and countless parallel universes exist, each representing a different path Evelyn's life could have taken. He teaches Evelyn how to verse-jump, a process that allows her to access the skills, memories, and abilities of her alternate selves by performing bizarre, often humorous, actions. These skills range from martial arts mastery and culinary expertise to proficiency in sign-spinning and even the ability to wield inanimate objects with surprising force.

As Evelyn begins to verse-jump, she encounters a dizzying array of alternate realities. She sees herself as a famous movie star, a skilled chef, a singer in a musical, and even as a being with hot dogs for fingers. These glimpses into lives she never lived both fascinate and overwhelm her. Her initial goal is to defeat Jobu Tupaki, whom she learns is a dangerous and all-powerful version of her own daughter, Joy. Jobu Tupaki has created an everything bagel, a black hole that threatens to consume all of existence, born from her own despair and the overwhelming nature of experiencing everything, everywhere, all at once. Evelyn must learn to harness her newfound abilities and confront Jobu Tupaki, not just for the sake of the multiverse, but to mend her fractured family relationships and find meaning in her own seemingly mundane life. The journey forces Evelyn to confront her regrets, her insecurities, and the profound impact of her choices on those she loves most.[edit]