On EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

 "The bagel will show you the true nature of things." That is a line from the genre-bender, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE. It stars Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn. She was in the 2018 hit romantic comedy, CRAZY RICH ASIANS. Back in 2000, she was a huge success defying gravity as she did some martial arts fighting in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. Michelle Yeoh engages in a bit of kung fu action in her current film -- but the film is more CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN LAUNDROMAT. Evelyn, a stressed out Chinese-American wife and mother in what is probably Southern California, runs a laundromat. She's frantically going through a pile of receipts at home because her business is being audited. She's also trying to cook up some noodles because her father is coming over as is her daughter. Her lesbian daughter unexpectedly brings her girlfriend along. Evelyn's sweet husband tries to help her cope with all this.

Most of us have been like middle-aged Evelyn at some point. She's a good person who feels she's no good at anything. As the story opens, I thought I was in for an urban tale of Asian-American life -- like Justin Chon's excellent L.A. story, GOOK, released in 2017. About 20 minutes later, you think Evelyn is in a sci-fi action story. It's a surreal ride and absolutely surprising. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE is about Asian-American images, existentialism, family ties and dealing with the IRS. You will see a universe where people have hot dogs instead of fingers. The surreal, fast-paced looniness of this film may remind you movie goers of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, BRAZIL or even James Thurber's THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY stories.

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE is blessed with a bunch of beautiful performances. First of all, there's Michelle Yeoh who goes from drab to dazzling, frayed to focused. We stay with this story to see what realizations come to Evelyn about herself. Ke Huy Quan stars as her loving, ordinary, working class husband. Quan was the child actor who starred with Harrison Ford in INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM. He's excellent as the husband. Evelyn's father is played by the remarkable film & TV veteran, James Hong. His career goes back to the 1960s. He was in FLOWER DRUM SONG, THE SAND PEBBLES, CHINATOWN (as the butler to Faye Dunaway's character),  the CHINATOWN sequel, THE TWO JAKES, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, AIRPLANE! and BALLS OF FURY. His extensive list of TV credits includes a favorite episode of SEINFELD. In May of this year, Hong received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He should also receive an Honorary Oscar. He's in his early 90s and totally rocked his role in EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE. And there's a terrific turn from Jamie Lee Curtis as a white-haired, pot-bellied and very strict IRS agent.

This movie is unpredictable, unusual, poetic and provocative. It has a giant bagel, a man with a raccoon on his head, a gala film premiere...and a butt plug.

In addition to the Asian-American images, existentialism, family ties and dealing with the IRS... EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE is also about kindness. I loved this movie.