And The Kitchen Sink

Usually with my reviews, I’ll talk a bit about the background of the movie, do a brief plot summary, and then give my impressions on the actors, director, and any other outstanding feature of the movie. Recently I saw Everything, Everywhere, All The Time, and for this review I thought I’d start with the plot summary.

It can’t be done.

I can give you a brief introduction to set the scene, to tell you where the movie starts. Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) is trying to figure out her taxes before heading to an appointment with the IRS. The auditor there, Dierdra Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis), is about at the end of her patience with Evelyn and her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), and has asked that they bring their daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu), to translate. Joy and her girlfriend, Becky (Tallie Medel) come to Evelyn and Waymond’s laundromat, but an argument between mother and daughter leads to Joy and Becky leaving. Evelyn and Waymond set out for the IRS office along with Evelyn’s elderly father Gong Gong (James Hong). When they arrive, they head for the door…

And that’s the end of what can be easily summarized. From that point on, the story is like being in Christopher Nolan’s mind while he’s on an acid trip. Think of a mashup between Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Kung Fu Hustle, and Scott Pilgrim vs The World, and then make it about 10 times stranger. The plot revolves around other versions of the characters from parallel dimensions leaping into the bodies of those on Earth, while Evelyn begins leaping into other versions of herself on those parallel worlds: a kung fu master, a singer, a Benihana’s type chef, a successful movie actress, and maybe a couple of dozen more. She’ll need every skill she can glean from her other selves to defeat the big bad – a version of Joy intent on destroying the whole of reality.

Sounds totally weird, doesn’t it, and it is. But even with how weird it is, the movie’s heart is twenty times larger. In the end it’s an incredibly poignant affirmation of the humanity in each of us, whoever we may be, even if you are hiding under (or in) a rock.

I should probably mention the googly eyes – but I won’t.

The writer/director team of Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert were known for their work in music videos, where they simply went by the name Daniels, working with Tenacious D, Kimbra, DJ Snake & Lil Jon, among others. Their previous feature, Swiss Army Man, won the award for direction of a drama at Sundance, and it was well received on the festival circuit, though it was a step along the unusual plot path. With Everything, Kwan and Scheinert made a break for the far end of the field, and somehow, they scored a touchdown. It may have helped to have Joe and Anthony Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier; Captain America: Civil War; The Avengers: Infinity War; The Avengers: Endgame) serving as producers, since they know about making complex, special-effects-filled movies that still connect with the audience in a deeply personal way.

There may be another actor other than Yeoh who could handle the role of Evelyn, but after seeing the movie I can’t imagine anyone else doing it. Even as the strangeness is dialed up to 12, Yeoh anchors the story in reality and humanity. It’s fun to have James Hong in a meaty role, since he’s one of the great character actors, with over 450 credits on IMDb in a career that’s spanned 65 years. On the other end of the career arc, Stephanie Hsu has been building up a solid resumé, and has had a recurring and growing role on one of my favorite streaming series, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” She’s able to go toe to toe with Yeoh and hold her own, and even though her Joy turns into a heavy character, she retains the sympathy of the audience.

Yes, the movie is strange, and yes, it’s bizarre, but it’s also a heartfelt meditation on family and the choices we make, and you may find yourself tearing up a time or two. I’d suggest you see Everything, Everywhere, All the Time in a theater, just so you can immerse yourself in it. It’s worth taking the dip.  

The Point of the Play

Rian Johnson is one of the more interesting writer/directors today who’s demonstrated an ability to take a genre and make a movie that fits perfectly within it while at the same time turning the conventions of the genre on its ear. His first feature, Brick with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, was a Raymond Chandler-esque hard-boiled detective story, set in a high school. He also made one of the best time travel movies ever with Looper, with the perfect way to do a mob execution. And while it wasn’t well accepted by some fans, he managed to make Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi a surprising, funny, and ultimately poignant experience. Now he’s decided to do Agatha Christie on laughing gas with the twisty mystery Knives Out.

Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), a highly successful crime novelist, was found dead the night after his family gathered at his mansion to celebrate his 85^th birthday. The police initially rule it a suicide, since his neck was cut, and the blood spray pattern showed no one was near him when it happened. But a few days later, Lieutenant Elliott (LaKeith Stanfield) and Trooper Wagner (Noah Segan) again gather the family, Harlan’s housekeeper, and his nurse for further questions. The family includes daughter Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her husband Richard (Don Johnson), son Walt Thrombey (Michael Shannon) with his wife Donna (Riki Lindhome) and son Jacob (Jaeden Martell), younger daughter Joni Thrombey (Toni Collette) and her daughter Meg (Katherine Langford), and Harlan’s mother, Greatnana Wanetta (K Callan). One family member skips the gathering: Ransom Drysdale (Chris Evans), Linda and Richard’s adult son. Except for him briefly coming downstairs for a snack after midnight, the last person to see Harlan alive was his nurse, Marta (Ana de Armas), while the housekeeper, Fran (Edi Patterson) discovered his body in his study the next morning.

The recollections of the family members are contrasted with flashbacks to the night of the party that show they’re not trustworthy narrators. The one exception is Marta, who physically can’t tell a lie. Whenever she does, she vomits. But as the family members are interviewed, an unidentified man sits back behind the Lieutenant. Whenever he’s struck by something that’s said, he hits a high key on the piano. Eventually the man is identified as Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), a world-famous detective who’s been hired to investigate the circumstances of Harlan’s death.

And I’ll say no more about the movie’s plot, except that it constantly twists and turns and circles back to give the audience a completely different view of the story. As it goes along, Johnson pushes the interplay between the family and others just slightly past a straight mystery to have fun with the tropes of the genre. If it were played straight, Knives Out would be a mystery on the order of Murder on the Orient Express (either film version) or Death on the Nile – an involving and satisfying story that keeps you guessing who did it and how they did it. By adding some killer wit, Johnson has created a spiritual child of Charade, minus the romance, that’s lethally funny.

This is a to-die-for cast, and Johnson allows each of them to shine in their own way. Craig plays Blanc with a southern drawl that covers a razor-sharp mind, while Evans gets to completely trash the good-guy persona he’s had in playing Captain America for the past decade. Outstanding, though, is Ana de Armas’ Marta, who’s pulled into the investigation far deeper than she wishes to be. There’s also two fun cameos, with M. Emmet Walsh as a security man and Frank Oz as Harlan’s lawyer.

Even when you think you know what happened, you don’t until the final denouement. For a mystery lover, or even a mystery liker, Knives Out is a sumptuous banquet that is thoroughly satisfying. See it.