History Film / EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce

* DrivenToSuicide: It's revealed that [[spoiler:Jobu Tupaki created the Everything Bagel not to destroy everything but to kill herself, since she believes that because there are countless universes of chaos and she's SeenItAll, nothing in life really matters. She nearly succeeds, but Evelyn is able to pull her out of that mindset and out of the Bagel.]]

* DieHardOnAnX: Putting aside all the alternate universe shenanigans, the bulk of the movie takes place inside the IRS office building.

* BarrierBustingBlow: The furious IRS agent busts through the locked janitor's closet with her two arms and gives Alpha Waymond a NeckSnap.

* BatterUp: When the IRS agent comes to her shop with police enforcement, Eveylin grabs a baseball bat, destroys one of the front windows with it and then starts demolishing the inventory.

* PipePain: In one of Evelyn's visions, the antagonistic IRS agent pulls a pipe from the wall of the janitor's closet and uses it to smash Evelyn's head in.

** Jobu Tupaki's plan for Evelyn [[spoiler:is to get Evelyn to peer into the Everything Bagel to get her to the same nihilistic mindset as she does. Evelyn's plan to save her daughter from just after the one-third mark -- once she understands who Jobu is -- ''is to do this'', only with with Waymond at her side convincing her to remain kind through it all. This creates an Evelyn who understands Jobu's mindset like Jobu wanted, but sees the good enough to counter every nihilistic point Jobu Tupaki offers with an equally anti-nihilistic point.]]

* PronounTrouble: Early on Evelyn absentmindedly refers to Joy's butch girlfriend Becky with masculine pronouns. When Joy calls her on it, she tries to deflect that the difference does not exist in Chinese, but nobody's buying it.

* MissionControl: Alpha Waymond's crew enables Evelyn's verse jumps from inside a van. Jobu Tupaki later [[spoiler:assaults and kills the operators including Waymond turning the setting into a MissingMissionControl.

* SuccessThroughInsanity: The first step to Verse-Jumping is to do an action that would seem completely irrational to anyone paying attention]] (i.e., eating lip balm, giving yourself four paper cuts, one between each finger, blowing on your opponent's nose. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking wearing your shoes on the wrong feet]], and so on). The sheer improbability of it [[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum weakens the boundaries of reality]] and allows the person to make the connection to their alternate self.]]

* AsianRudeness: Zigzagged. Evelyn is a very grumpy, disgruntled person to her family and customers. This mostly comes from her ongoing existential crisis and dissatisfaction with her own life choices. Over the film as she confronts her relationship with the world, she softens to those around her. Her father Gong Gong is also generally a [[{{Jerkass}} mean bastard]]. But he even he is [[spoiler: surprisingly accepting of his grandduaghter's sexuality.]] Completely averted with [[TheAntiNihilist Waymond]], Evelyn's AllLovingHero husband.
* AspectRatioSwitch: The aspect ratio and film quality changes all the time, marking not only jumps between universes, but also genres. For instance, the flashbacks to the time in China and arrival in America are captured in analog television's 4:3 ratio.

*** [[spoiler:The anti-Everything Bagel, because of its inverted colour scheme (black in white to the Bagel's white in black). Evelyn is only able to fight against the Bagel once she fully embraces the silly joy the Eyes give.]]

* CosmicHorrorStory: Discussed in-universe and played with in general. [[spoiler:When her mind splinters into experiencing the entire multiverse all at once, Jobu Tupaki comes to the conclusion that it's first and foremost ''scary'' simply for being the first human being to go through something like that, and a big part of her supposed evil comes from the nihilism this has caused. The Bagel itself is virtually unknowable, but looks incredibly unpleasant to experience first-hand. Also, when Evelyn confronts Jobu for the first time, accusing her of being the reason Joy is gay, Jobu responds that the universe is so much bigger than Evelyn realizes, highlighting Joy's sexuality is one small insignificant detail in a much bigger, frightening grand picture, and proceeds to prove her point by turning the flickering lights of the hallway off as the horrific sounds of [[NothingIsScarier other terrifying dimensions we never get to see]] permeate the darkness]].

* FlashbackCut: After Evelyn is fitted with the verse jumping ear pieces, she experiences a series of these when one of her alternate selfs dies: she sees her birth, being chastised as a little girl by her father for running, meeting Waymond in school, accepting his proposal, being disowned by her parents, having sex for the first time, being in labor with Joy, and several other points in her life.

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: With her consciousness spread thin across the multiverse and experience all of existence simultaneously, Jobu has become a StrawNihilist who has given up on finding any point in the universe. Her goal is to [[spoiler:make Evelyn understand this too so that she doesn't have to be alone in this mindset]], and it's implied that she broke and converted her cultists this way.

** At the climax, there is a brief scene of Evelyn and Jobu Tupaki fighting on a subway platform, with the latter trying to push Evelyn into the path of a train and maliciously calling her by her first name (rather than [[spoiler:"Mom"]]). This is pretty overtly modeled on a similiar scene in ''Film/TheMatrix''.

* PrecisionFStrike: After Alpha Gong Gong pulls a gun on her and tells her that she will eventually turn out just like Jobu Tupaki, Evelyn suddenly starts dancing. It’s so random that even Alpha Gong Gong, along with Joy and Waymond, are left utterly confused, and has the former dropping this with a straight face.

* PronounTrouble: Early on Evelyn absentmindely refers to Joy's butch girlfriend Becky with masculine pronouns. When Joy calls her on it, she tries to deflect that the difference does not exist in Chinese, but nobody's buying it.

* RelationshipSalvagingDisaster: [[spoiler: The entire conflict with Jobu Tupaki ends up saving Evelyn and Waymond's marriage, the latter of whom had recently filed for divorce. But most importantly, it also saves Evelyn's relationship with her daughter Joy and mend bridges with her father Gong Gong.]]

* ThisIsGonnaSuck: When one of the Alphaverse Jumpers learns he has to shove a giant buttplug shaped trophy up his butt to verse-jump, he clearly hesitates as he stares apprehensively at it.

** Evelyn neutralises all Alphaverse soldiers not by violence, but by drawing on her alternate selves to help solve their hang-ups, ranging from unrequited romance to back pain. Their joy is enough to get them to disengage from fighting.

* AnAesop:
** The world may vastly dwarf the people living in it, and it can be easy to be overwhelmed by our problems, but [[YouAreNotAlone our connections with others make life worth living]].
** The question of whether or not life has any inherent meaning is ultimately irrelevant. Besides, [[TheAntiNihilist if nothing matters, then the only thing that does matter is what we do]].

* ComingOfAgeStory: [[spoiler:The entire central conflict is built and then resolved by Jobu Tupaki ''and'' Joy getting over the fact they are entering adulthood and life sucks ... but that's not a reason to commit suicide]].

* ExpendableAlternateUniverse: The film confronts the existential terror of a meaningless and pointless universe head-on, and the lesson it has for dealing with it is: you ignore it. Evelyn learns to ignore the multiverse and just concentrate on enjoying the little things she can in her own life. On top of that, while the Evelyn ''we'' see on screen may have a "happy" ending and the Jobu ''we'' see may be redeemed, by definition there exists an infinity of Evelyns and Jobus in other universes who are neither happy nor redeemed, but suffer an infinity of horrifying fates. We just don't see them because the film isn't about them. Of course the antidote remains same: just ignore them. Don't think about them; just focus on whatever happiness you can.

* ForWantOfANail: It's shown how a few of Evelyn's alternate universe selves developed because of a different choice Evelyn made in the past.
** In the universe where Evelyn is a martial arts star, she turned down Waymond's proposal, and he left for America without her. While walking home alone, Evelyn got mugged, but her attackers were stopped by a sifu who then offered to train Evelyn herself.
** The universe where Evelyn is a famous singer is one where she tripped while playing one day, causing her to be blinded when she fell on a board with two nails sticking out.

* HeroicBSOD: Evelyn briefly suffers a nihilistic crisis on seeing the bagel and experiencing every version of her life in the infinite multiverse.

* InSpiteOfANail:
** In the universe where people have hotdogs for fingers and use their feet to play piano, pianos still look the same as in our universe, and Music/ClaudeDebussy still composed "Clair de Lune." Evelyn also somehow still owns the same laundromat and lives in the same apartment above it.
** CEO Waymond never married Evelyn and eventually became successful and rich. Despite all this, his continued carrying of a torch for Evelyn made him just as much TheAntiNihilist as Protagonist and Return Home Waymond, expounding basically the same philosophy as those versions of him.

* TheMultiverse: As Alpha Waymond explains to Evelyn, every choice they make creates an AlternateSelf with vastly different life experiences, and these counterparts all exist in parallel. However, the multiverse is threatened by the presence of Jobu Tupaki, and Evelyn is recruited to save it.

* OnlyTheLeadsGetAHappyEnding: The film confronts the existential terror of a meaningless and pointless universe head-on, and the lesson it has for dealing with it is: you ignore it. Evelyn learns to ignore the multiverse and just concentrate on enjoying the little things she can in her own life. On top of that, while the Evelyn ''we'' see on screen may have a "happy" ending and the Jobu ''we'' see may be redeemed, by definition there exists an infinity of Evelyns and Jobus in other universes who are neither happy nor redeemed, but suffer an infinity of horrifying fates. We just don't see them because the film isn't about them. Of course the antidote remains same: just ignore them. Don't think about them; just focus on whatever happiness you can.

* GenreBusting: The movie really lives up to its title because it has ''everything''. It's an absurdist BlackComedy, a heartfelt DysfunctionalFamily drama, a sci-fi adventure, [[ExistentialHorror a cosmic horror movie]], a [[AffectionateParody parody of martial art films]], a surreal MindScrew experiment, a poignant arthouse thriller, and a fun popcorn movie all at the same time.
* GenreMashup:

* AlternateUniverse: It's the standard multiverse setup where every decision and possibility creates a new branch, though individuals cannot ''physically'' travel to other ones. Verse-hoppers can instead access all of the skills possessed by any of their alternate selves in other universes.
* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:It isn't clear if the final scenes take place in "our" Evelyn's universe (where the IRS office got torn to pieces) or the universe where they went home, had the party that Evelyn had a breakdown at, and were given a week to get their statements together. If the latter, it's unknown what happened to the former universe after Joy decides not to enter the black hole]].

* AspectRatioSwitch: The aspect ratio and film quality changes all the time, marking not only jumps between universes, but also genres.

* BrickJoke

** At the start of the movie, Joy explains to Becky that nagging Joy about her apperance is [[YouAreFat Evelyn's way of showing she cares]]. In the last scene, Evelyn tells Becky that she thinks Becky needs to grow out her undercut.

* DownerEnding: InUniverse. [[spoiler:The second act ends with Evelyn's mind overloading, causing her to have a fatal seizure as Waymond desperately shouts for help. The film then fades out, and begins displaying credits ... which are then revealed to belong to a film inside the universe where Evelyn is a movie star. As the audience begins to applaud, the Waymond of that reality [[LampshadeHanging comments that the ending was bold but quite sad]].]] That said, it's implied that was the fate of that universe, as the third act follows other timelines where Deidre wasn't punched in the face.

* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: {{In Universe}}, when they don't have time to calculate what is necessary to get Evelyn the skills she needs, Alpha Waymond tells her to just "do something weird. Peeing your pants usually works." She then starts doing random things, getting the skills and information she needs for her fight. They're quite random, but she usually ends up with something appropriate to the situation.

** In the universe where people have hotdogs for fingers and use their feet to play piano, pianos still look the same as in our universe, and Debussy still composed "Clair de Lune." Evelyn also somehow still owns the same laundromat and lives in the same apartment above it.

* InnocentlyInsensitive: Evelyn attempts to tell Waymond about the amazing life she had in a universe where she never ran away with him to America, but instead drives him to tears as she gushes about how great her life would have been without him.

* NegatedMomentOfAwesome: By the end of the first act, Evelyn thinks she has it all figured out and is ready to face [[spoiler:Jobu Tupaki. Instead, her mind quite literally overloads and she gets a fatal seizure, ''which kills her'' and causes a FakeOutFadeOut. However, this actually turns out to be the beginning of Evelyn gaining control of multiverse jumping equal to Jobu Tupaki.]]

* RuleOfSymbolism: Googly eyes recur prominently through the film, with Evelyn sticking one on her forehead as a reference to the spiritual ThirdEye and her perception of alternate realities. [[spoiler:They represent [[TheAntiNihilist anti-nihilism]], black-in-white in opposition to the white-in-black Everything Bagel, the symbol of {{straw nihilis|t}}m.]]

* HumanoidAbomination: Jobu Tupaki used to be an ordinary person, and still looks like one, despite having RealityWarper powers.

* AllLovingHero: Waymond's anti-nihilist philosophy pushes him to treat everyone with kindness, regardless of the situation. [[spoiler:Near the end of the film, Evelyn adopts this philosophy and wins over both Deirdre and Jobu Tupaki through acts of kindness and empathy.]]

* TheAntiNihilist: The whole philosophical point of the film, best exemplified by a rousing speech delivered by Waymond in the second act. [[spoiler:Following his "just be kind in the face of uncertainty" mentality inspires Evelyn to overcome Jobu Tupaki's StrawNihilist arguments]].

* BewareTheSillyOnes: Jobu Tupaki always dresses in weird flamboyant outfits and fights the police similarly to Film/TheMask ... except she actually uses her silly reality warping to kill people.

* BigGood: Waymond. Alpha Waymond continues to search for an Evelyn who can stop Jobu Tupaki, [[spoiler:and remains convinced even in death that Evelyn will find a way to save Joy, Return Home Waymond manages to get his wife out of ''multiple'' impending felony charges, Protagonist Waymond has no idea what's going on and ''still'' fights to protect Evelyn and Joy and tries his ''damnedest'' to protect his entire family, even Gong Gong who hates him so much he disowned Evelyn for marrying Waymond, and Movieverse Waymond manages to single-handedly lift Evelyn out of nihilism solely through his love and optimism.]]

* TheChosenZero: Our Evelyn is the Evelyn living her worst life, good at nothing, which means she's just a short jump away from every ''successful'' Evelyn and has access to countless abilities from her better selves.

* DefrostingIceQueen: In her first appearances, Deirdre seems to be a cold, unsympathetic hardass, but she softens and allows Evelyn a second chance to get her affairs in order after finding out Evelyn is going through a divorce.

* {{Deuteragonist}}: The main universe's Waymond is just as vital to the plot as Evelyn, but almost everything he does is in the background. The Daniels stated they wanted a beta-male, someone who is active but always in a kind and loving manner, and we only get hints of Waymond's actions, until the climax, because we're focused on Evelyn (like Evelyn herself). However, Waymond is an active agent, striving to resolve conflict and bring about a positive resolution: he bakes cookies to placate Deirdre, he files for divorce to force Evelyn to confront their struggling relationship, he talks with Deirdre about the confrontation over the divorce papers to convince her to forgive Evelyn in the Return Home Universe, and he dives into the middle of a MeleeATrois kung fu gun fight to beg everyone to be kind.

* EldritchAbomination: The bagel. [[spoiler:Being exposed to it opens you up to the entire, stupid multiverse, causing existential despair at the pointlessness of it all. It takes Waymond's constant and unending hope and love to snap Evelyn out of it, to find hope and love, and fully unlock her potential.]]

* JewishAmericanPrincess: Debbie the Dog Mom, referred to as "Big Nose" by Evelyn, is never explicitly said to be Jewish, but she exhibits all the stereotypes of a Jewish-American Princess, not the least of which is her big nose. She's played by the Jewish Jenny Slate.

* RealityWarper: Particularly skilled universe-jumpers, such as Jobu Tupaki, [[spoiler:and later Evelyn]], can turn an object in one universe into an object from another, which appears as changing it into another form out of nowhere.

* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:Zig-zagged with Jobu Tupaki. Alphaverse Evelyn died fighting Jobu, and one of Jobu's first onscreen acts is to kill Evelyn in the "burner" universe, then later murders Alpha Waymond. Ultimately, however, Jobu confesses to Evelyn that she didn't hunt down Evelyn just to kill her - she wanted to find one version that ''understood her''.]]

* MsFanservice: In one alternative universe [[spoiler:Evelyn whilst working as a cleaner, ends up as a dominatrix for her boss.]]

* CueTheFlyingPigs:
** Implied; in the bizarre universe where humanity evolved to have sausages instead of fingers, Evelyn and Deirdre are dating or even married.
** Downplayed as a key part of verse-jumping. Jumpers must do something statistically unlikely to give them the probabilistic momentum necessary to connect to their desired selves.

* IdiotBall: [[spoiler:Weaponized as a tool to access other realities. The first step to Verse-Jumping is [[RefugeInAudacity to do an action that would seem completely irrational to anyone paying attention]] (i.e., eating lip balm, giving yourself four paper cuts, one between each finger, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking wearing your shoes on the wrong feet]], and so on). The sheer improbability of it weakens the boundaries of reality and allows the person to make the connection to their alternate self.]]

''Everything Everywhere All at Once'' is a 2022 science-fiction action comedy film written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (aka DANIELS), who previously directed ''Film/SwissArmyMan''. The film stars Creator/MichelleYeoh, Creator/KeHuyQuan, Creator/StephanieHsu, Creator/JamesHong, Creator/JamieLeeCurtis, Creator/JennySlate and Creator/HarryShumJr

** At the start of the movie, the number for Debbie the Dog Mom's laundry bag (and the bag which Evelyn yells at Joy and Waymond for putting googly eyes on) is 042. 42 is "the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything" in ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''.