Everything Everywhere All At Once

 

I don't think Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's sci-fi drug trip Everything Everywhere All At Once is to be assessed or explained as much as it is to be experienced.

The two Daniels, known best for writing and directing 2016's surreal romp Swiss Army Man -- which starred Paul Dano as a castaway and Daniel Radcliffe as the dead body that washes ashore and becomes his companion -- pull from many fantasy traditions for Everything Everywhere, but mostly from a current fave among filmmakers, the multiverse.

Michelle Yeoh -- the queen of martial arts fantasy films since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon -- plays overwhelmed laundry operator Evelyn Wang, who discovers multiple versions of herself in other universes.

With the help of her loving and patient husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan, the kid from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) she battles against a menace who seems intent on destroying all of the Evelyns in existence.

Assisting and/or hindering Evelyn in her quest to subvert annihilation are her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), who tends to be anything but; her enfeebled father Gong Gong (James Hong), just arrived from China for his birthday; and IRS tax auditor Deirdre (a creepily bewigged Jamie Lee Curtis), who takes on Michael Myers qualities at one point in the picture.

The film's dizzying pace and shifting narrative space will be maddening until the viewer lets go of rationality and embraces the absurdity of the tale, which, in the end, delivers a wonderful message about peace and, well, joy.