Everything Everywhere All At Once & Star vs The Forces of Evil

Bad Dads Film Review

The Top 5 Movies Set Over a Single Day or Night sees us chatting about those movies taking place in up to or under 24 hours, or in one case, 25 hours. Watch out time loop movie enthusiasts, damp squib Reegs is here to stop you bending the rules.
Ever since I'd heard about EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (2022), a martial arts comedy with a mind-bending concept from The Daniels, whose SWISS ARMY MAN delighted us with its mix of absurdity, vulgarity and profundity, starring the legendary Michelle Yeoh and Data from THE GOONIES I was pretty excited about the prospect of seeing it. Though I have mostly managed to avoid reviews and remain unspoilt, it has been impossible to avoid the hype that has surrounded it's release, with paragraph after paragraph already devoted to examining the movie’s plot and themes so my expectations were suitably high.
An intimidating film to talk about due to its dense plotting, genre mixing and jarring tonal moments where the absurd and ridiculous are juxtaposed with the genuine and heartfelt, on first viewing I found the experience borderline overwhelming and had a mixed initial reaction but having had the chance to think and rewatch it, I came to love it.
This is not an easy movie to synopsise, but I'll have a go. Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) runs a struggling laundromat with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), whom she married after rejecting her conservative father Gong Gong's advice not to, whilst coming to terms with her daughter Joy's sexuality and her worries as to what the judgemental Gong Gong will think of it. Oblivious to Waymond's attempts to file divorce papers, they attend a make it or break it meeting with an IRS auditor who eventually gives them extra time to submit their receipts. In between quite a lot of other stuff happens, most of it you're better off discovering yourself.
A film which rewards multiple viewings, with themes about family and parenting, rejecting hopelessness, the power of kindness but wrapped up in a complex science fiction device, featuring absurd and crude humour, inventive visuals and kick ass martial arts, which builds and resolves multiple emotional story arcs that all advance or expand upon the main story, centering on the complicated relationship between a mother and daughter, this is an utterly unique experience.
STAR VS. THE FORCES OF EVIL tells the story of princess Star Butterfly, banished to earth to practice wielding the awesome power of the Royal Magic Wand. There's a universe somewhere where this wasn't heavily derivative stylistically and conceptually of several other much better shows, but it isn't this one.

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Bad Dads