Why you loved it
Movies like Everything Everywhere All at Once
Everything Everywhere All at Once throws everything in: kung fu, hot-dog fingers, a tax audit, a bagel. Underneath, people find very different films. Here are four reasons people love it: find yours, then the films that share it.
The 4 reasons people love Everything Everywhere All at Once
Read them all. One will sound more like you than the others.
Absurd on the surface, sincere underneath
This was your reason if…
- You cried at two rocks with googly eyes.
- The raccoon subplot made you laugh out loud.
- You liked that the silliest ideas meant the most.
Two rocks with googly eyes can make a whole cinema cry, and that's the trick the Daniels pull all the way through: the dumbest ideas carry the most feeling. If this was your reason, you want films brave enough to be ridiculous and completely serious at the same time.
A mother, a daughter, an immigrant family
This was your reason if…
- Evelyn and Joy's last scene broke you.
- You recognised your own family in that laundromat.
- Waymond's gentleness got to you.
Under the multiverse is a Chinese-American family running a laundromat: a mother who can't say what she feels, a daughter she can't reach, a husband everyone underestimates. The universes are just a bigger stage for an old fight. If this is your reason, you want stories about families and the things they never say.
Kung fu and genre mashups
This was your reason if…
- The fanny-pack fight was a highlight.
- You loved spotting the film references.
- You wanted more of the fight scenes.
It's also a proper martial-arts film, with Michelle Yeoh, a fanny pack used as a weapon, and nods to Hong Kong cinema, Wong Kar-wai and Ratatouille. Every universe is a new genre. If this was your reason, you love films that remix everything they love.
Meaninglessness answered with kindness
This was your reason if…
- The bagel scared you a little.
- "Be kind" felt like the whole point.
- You left feeling lighter, not smaller.
Joy's everything bagel is despair made visible: if everything is possible, nothing matters. The film's answer isn't a big argument, it's Waymond asking everyone to be kind. If that's your reason, you want films that look at nihilism honestly and choose warmth anyway.
Picks that share your reasons
Turning Red2022
- Mother & daughter
- Absurd & sincere
Pixar's story of a Chinese-Canadian girl who turns into a giant red panda when her emotions run high. A mother and daughter, played for laughs and tears.
Kung Fu Hustle2004
- Kung fu & chaos
- Absurd & sincere
Stephen Chow's cartoonish kung fu comedy, where the landlady turns out to be a master. Pure joy in fighting and silliness.
Groundhog Day1993
- Kindness
- Absurd & sincere
A cynical weatherman relives the same day until he learns to be decent. The comedy classic about finding meaning in repetition.
Being John Malkovich1999
- Absurd & sincere
- Kindness
A puppeteer finds a small door that leads into John Malkovich's head. Surreal comedy used to ask who anyone really is.
Swiss Army Man2016
- Absurd & sincere
The same directors' first feature: a stranded man and a very useful corpse played by Daniel Radcliffe. Absurd, gross and surprisingly tender.
The Farewell2019
- Mother & daughter
A family hides a grandmother's diagnosis from her and gathers for a fake wedding. The same immigrant family ache, quiet and funny.
Minari2020
- Mother & daughter
A Korean family starts a farm in 1980s Arkansas. Gentle, specific and full of love, with a grandmother you won't forget.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World2010
- Kung fu & chaos
A slacker must defeat his girlfriend's seven evil exes in video-game fights. Genre remix as a love letter to pop culture.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind2004
- Kindness
Two ex-lovers erase each other from memory, then find their way back. Imperfect people choosing each other anyway.
Synecdoche, New York2008
- Kindness
A theatre director builds a replica of his life inside a warehouse, for decades. Charlie Kaufman's darkest take on why anything matters.
Reasons and picks chosen by the Ipsomap team. This application uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.
That's one film.
Ipsomap does this with everything you watch. Write a few honest lines after each one, and it works out which reasons are yours, then finds picks that share them.
Find your reasons