Everything Everywhere All at Once is getting plenty of positive reviews and hype, and there's a reason for the positive buzz. The A24 movie, which will get a wide release in theaters on Friday, April 8, is currently garnering a lot of attention. Everything Everywhere All at Once was directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known collectively as "the Daniels"), who previously wrote and directed the surreal Daniel Radcliffe/Paul Dano comedy-drama Swiss Army Man. The science-fiction black comedy action film made its world premiere at the South By Southwest festival on March 11, 2022, and interest in it has only grown since then.
Everything Everywhere All at Once focuses on a Chinese immigrant, Evelyn Wang (played by veteran action star Michelle Yeoh), who is struggling to do her taxes and maintain relationships with her loved ones. However, Evelyn soon discovers that she has the power to travel across multiple universes, which leads to a weird, wonderful, and world-saving adventure. Along with Yeoh, the film boasts an impressive cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., and James Hong.
Though Swiss Army Man also got a positive reception with critics, the Daniels' second film looks to be an even bigger hit. As of this writing, Everything Everywhere All at Once holds a 97% on 2022 sci-fi movie is already getting plenty of hype behind it.
Why Everything Everywhere All At Once Reviews Are So Positive
Wildly creative and touching, writer-directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known collectively as Daniels) meticulously craft a film that is as imaginative as it is intense. Everything Everywhere All At Once is weird in the best of ways, emotional, smart, and ready to take viewers on a ride they won’t soon forget.
Everything Everywhere All at Once may be a kaleidoscopic fantasy battle across space, time, genres, and emotions, but it’s an incredibly moving family drama first. Maybe there’s something punk about it after all.
This maximalist sledgehammer of a film—something of a cross between Cloud Atlas, Enter The Void, Kung Fu Hustle, and a full season of Rick And Morty—has the energy, insanity, and exuberance of Daniels’s DJ Snake and Lil John “Turn Down For What” video and the shock value of their “farting Daniel Radcliffe corpse” movie Swiss Army Man. Hopefully this serves as a warning that it is defiantly not for everyone. For those who revel in chaos, however, this movie is a gift.
It is clear that many critics are enthralled with Everything Everywhere All at Once for many reasons. The film has been praised for its creativity and the way it handles its wild and chaotic world. Michelle Yeoh's starring performance is also being hailed as a standout of the film. Critics have also complimented Everything Everywhere All at Once on its zany sense of humor but also acknowledge how the film builds up to something more profound. The consensus is that the film is a great philosophical work about how to be your best self. The overwhelming critical acclaim also praises the way Everything Everywhere All at Once tackles the multiverse and how ridiculous and fun some of the parallel worlds are.
Everything Everywhere All At Once's Box Office Is Already Great
Although the film hasn't had a wide release yet, the box office for Everything Everywhere All at Once is already promising. In its opening weekend of March 25th, the film made a theater average of $50,965, the second-best since the start of the pandemic for a platform release after Licorice Pizza (which made $86,000 on its opening weekend) and currently has the best opening theater average of 2022 (via Morbius (debuted at $39 million despite bad reviews). The fact that Everything Everywhere All at Once managed to hang in the top ten alongside these blockbuster hits, despite only being a limited release for now, is very impressive.
Everything Everywhere All At Once Audience Scores Are Incredible
The film is already resonating with audiences. As of this writing, Everything Everywhere All at Once holds a 96% verified audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 4.8/5-star rating. The total audience score on Rotten Tomatoes isn't much different, either, at 95% and 4.7 out of 5 stars. Having such a high audience score across the board proves that critics aren't the only ones enjoying this film. It's also currently the highest-rated film ever on Letterboxd, finally dethroning Best Picture winner Parasite from the top spot. Though the Daniels self-deprecatingly joked about this achievement, blaming it on "recency bias," it still shows just how well-received the movie has been so far. On IMDb, Everything Everywhere All At Once currently has a rating of 8.9/10 based on 3,000 reviews. It's also currently 5th on IMDb's most popular movies list, just above Pulp Fiction. Clearly, Everything Everywhere All at Once is already an audience hit. While it can be expected that its scores might drop a bit across the board once it hits wide release, it's hard to imagine them changing much. Rather, it should become even more beloved once more audiences are able to see it.
The trajectory of Everything Everywhere All at Once has been impressive. It's a film that critics adore but also one that audiences enjoy and are willing to go to theaters to see. Hopefully, a wide release will help benefit Everything Everywhere All at Once even more. The concept is a bizarre one for sure but it's already managed to win over reviewers and general audiences alike, an impressive feat in 2022.
