Summary
- Movies like Everything Everywhere All At Once blend mind-bending fantasy and over-the-top action with heartfelt stories about family.
- These films, such as Sliding Doors and Swiss Army Man, explore alternate realities and the fracturing possibilities of life.
- Movies like Everything Everywhere All At Once prove that imagination isn't truly gone in the art of film, and they offer a rare mix of genres and visual storytelling.
Movies like Everything Everywhere All At Once are a unique blend of mind-bending fantasy, over-the-top action, and plenty of heart of a combination that is rarely seen in cinema. The 2022 film follows everyday mom Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) as she finds herself thrust through a series of alternate universes in which her life is completely different. Praised for its playful and exciting style, EEAAO still managed to deliver a heartfelt story about family amid its cartoonish action exploits.
Naturally, the film was a massive critical success, with many noting its deft blending of genres and stellar performance from Michelle Yeoh (via the cast of Everything Everywhere All at Once was finally given their due at the Academy Awards. In a sea of comic book movies, sequels, and reboots, movies like Everything Everywhere All At Once are a rare commodity that proves that imagination isn't truly gone for the art of film.
Sliding Doors (1998)
- Stream on Max, Hulu, Peacock, The Roku Channel, Hoopla, Vudu, Tubi TV and Plex
EEAAO isn't the first movie to analyze a relationship through multiple universes, and Sliding Doors deftly touched on the topic back in the 1990s. Ad executive Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) is fired from her job and finds her life split into two timelines in which she either stays with her boyfriend or pursues a happier life. While light on the mind-bending elements of EEAAO, Sliding Doors is still very much about the fracturing possibilities of life, and how different life can be with just a small change.
Swiss Army Man (2016)
- Stream on Max and Kanopy
Though the directing duo known as Daniels made their biggest splash with Everything Everywhere All At Once, their debut feature Swiss Army Man was a preview of things to come. Stranded on an island, Hank (Paul Dano) finds the corpse of Manny (Daniel Radcliffe) and uses the dead body's flatulence to go on an epic adventure. The bulk of the humor from movies like Everything Everywhere All At Once comes from the absurdity of their premise, and Swiss Army Man proved that the Daniels had absurdity locked down. While it isn't as thoughtful as EEAAO, it's still a wild ride.
Big Fish (2003)
- Buy or rent on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, YouTube, and Vudu
The best Tim Burton movies capture the director's unique style and penchant for the imaginative, and though Big Fish flew under the radar, it had both in spades. When his father falls ill, William (Billy Crudup) digs into his dad's interesting past to learn more about him and sus out the facts from the fiction in his fantastical stories. Both Big Fish and EEAAO put the emphasis on imagination to essentially tell the story of a strained parent/child relationship. Both movies use astounding visuals to get their point across and are heartwarming tear-jerkers in the end.
After Yang (2021)
- Stream on Fubo TV and the Criterion Channel
After Yang is another recent sci-fi film about a family trying to reconnect. It happens when patriarch Jake (Colin Farrell) tries to repair his daughter's android companion and realizes he's been missing out on living his life. This film shows an atypical, futuristic family and has some sweet and funny moments. What makes this movie most like Everything Everywhere All At Once is that it has a focus on science fiction and how it changes someone's outlook on life whether it be Evelyn regaining her confidence or Jake finding his way back to his family.
Every Day (2018)
- Stream on FilmBox+
Every Day is a 2010s teen romantic comedy that follows Rhiannon (Angourie Rice), a girl who falls in love with A (Justice Smith), someone who takes control of a different person's body every day. The film follows them as they try to connect and find each other despite the obstacle of being separated every night. While Everything Everywhere All At Once isn't a rom-com or a teen movie, it does have the same element of body swapping and teleporting accidentally that this movie also has. Though they have very different premises, the science fiction abilities in each are similar.
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)
- Stream on Peacock
Capturing the hipster zeitgeist of the 2000s to perfection, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World also had all the cartoonish action that made Everything Everywhere All At Once so memorable. Scott (Michael Cera) is a slacker musician who meets Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and has to vanquish her evil exes in order to be with her. Incorporating elements of video games into its visuals, the film is a feast for the eyes while still boiling down to simple themes. Both Evelyn and Scott learn to grow throughout the story and move beyond the superficial things that rule their lives.
Spirited Away (2001)
- Stream on Max
Spirited Away is a Hayoa Miyazaki film that follows Chihiro, a young girl who gets stuck in a spirit world and must find her way out of the complex realm without causing too much of a disturbance. It's filled with incredible visual illusions and wonderfully vibrant animation. Overall, this film is most like Everything Everywhere All At Once because it's about being separated from the normal world, the illusion of the normal world at least, and it's just as exciting and adventurous as well. While this film is animated, it is also very truthful and realistic in what it says about human nature.
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022)
- Stream on Disney+
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness follows the Sorcerer Supreme (Benedict Cumberbatch) as he opens a portal to the multiverse from which a threat emerges that might be too big for him to handle by himself. With the help of the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and a few other friends, he attempts to make everything right again. Though a comic book movie, Doctor Strange 2 is just like Everything Everywhere All At Once in that it is all about the multiverse and making sure it doesn't collapse as timelines and different universes lose balance.
Doctor Strange (2016)
- Stream on Disney+
The first Doctor Strange follows Dr. Stephen Strange (Cumberbatch), a talented surgeon with mangled hands who learns how to harness incredible power as a sorcerer and meddles with the timeline and multiverse in multiple ways. This newfound knowledge helps his hands heal physically while he works on his own humility and sense of self-importance. Movies like Everything Everywhere All At Once are usually recognizable because they use mind-bending science fiction and fantasy concepts to touch on larger issues within the main character, such as 2016's Doctor Strange.
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)
- Stream on Fubo TV and FX Now
Generally considered one of the best animated superhero movies of all time, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a whole new look for the wall-crawler. It follows Miles (Shameik Moore), a kid who gets bit by a radioactive spider and gains powers just like Spider-Man, and he must enter Spider-Verse to stop Kingpin's nefarious plot. There is obviously a lot going on in this film, but what makes it most like Everything Everywhere All At Once is the fact that it is focused on the multiverse and shows different versions of Spider-Man from different worlds just like how Evelyn can see and be different versions of herself.
