With her laundromat teetering on the brink of failure and her marriage to wimpy husband Waymond on the rocks, overworked Evelyn Wang struggles to cope with everything, including a tattered relationship with her judgmental father Gong Gong and Joy, her daughter. And, as if facing a gloomy midlife crisis weren’t enough, Evelyn must brace herself for an unpleasant meeting with an impersonal bureaucrat: Deirdre, the shabbily dressed IRS auditor. However, as the stern agent loses patience, an inexplicable multiverse rift becomes an eye-opening exploration of parallel realities. Will Evelyn jump down the rabbit hole? How many stars are there in the universe? Can weary Evelyn fathom the irrepressible force of possibilities, tap into newfound powers, and prevent an evil entity from destroying the thin, countless layers of the unseen world? —Nick Riganas

I was really looking forward to this major opus, and then didn’t really dare watching it for quite some time. Too long, too interesting, too intellectual, too philosophical. I was really afraid this master work would be wasted on a movie consuming pedestrian like me.

And maybe it was. Dunno. But EEAaO didn’t leave a big impression on me. I’ll tell you why:

Because it is all the things the title promises! Plus some little extra meanies that make our movie-watching lives even harder. EEAaO has a very confusing story, weird characters, an unattainable villain, plays in too many different universes (not to be confused with the stupid Marvel-verses, OMG no!) and plays out at a frantic pace. Add to that you’re forced to read subtitles for the many Chinese dialogues.

And when I tell you now that this overwhelming piece of scifi, fantasy, martial arts madness is in principle just the portrayal of a struggling minority daughter of a careless father/housewife/mother of a gay daughter/small failing business owner/spouse of a doofus husband and all the stress she has to endure in daily life, what do we make of it?

Indeed, my dear friends: They could’ve told us the story in much less time and more effectively than by packaging it into a frantically paced kung-fu spectacle.

CONCLUSION: Much too many things in much too many universes sheeted out over much too much time! Towards the end it appeared to me like a Marvel movie or a bad drug trip and I gave up and spaced out. Hubby loved it. But what does he know about the struggles of women?

Chris loved it:

… as did Jeremy. I guess they both have their reasons and they are correct.

And Mark loved it, too. Ok, I admit it, I’m the odd kid out. So please ignore my humble criticism. 😐