Everything Everywhere All At Once is undeniably shaping up to be an enduring classic for many years to come, though you wouldn’t know it from its placement on the recently released New York Times list of the 100 best movies of the 21st century. This list scours prestige cinema of the last 25 years, from poignant indie dramas to daring blockbusters.
Overall, the list is a thoughtful and apt ranking of what are sure to become the most important films of the 21st century. However, there are arguably a few glaring misplacements, most notably Everything Everywhere All at Once, which only barely manages to nudge past the cut-off point at a mere 77th place.
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Everything Everywhere All at Once tells the story of Evelyn, an exhausted laundromat owner who has struggled as a wife, mother, and businesswoman, watching her relationships and laundromat fall apart at the seams. Everything changes when she’s thrust into the center of an interdimensional war waged by a nihilistic version of her own daughter, forcing her to scour the multiverse for meaning.
Everything Everywhere All at Once has practically everything one could want in a film, from spectacularly choreographed fight scenes to endearing humor and intricate character arcs written with true heart behind them. It’s easy to see why the film swept the 2023 Academy Awards, taking home the coveted Best Picture Oscar.
Everything Everywhere All At Once Deserved Better Than #77 On NYT’s Poll
Especially When Considering What Ranks Higher
In truth, Everything Everywhere All at Once deserves far better than 77th on the New York Times‘ list, remaining underrated. The film’s shockingly low position could be chalked up to being just old enough to be looked at with far too much scrutiny while no longer fresh enough to still be highly praised ubiquitously.
Looking at the films that sit ahead of it, it becomes blatantly obvious that it deserved higher than the last quarter of the list. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan sits at 53 and Her sits at 24, and in my personal estimation, Everything Everywhere All at Once clears both of them easily.
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If anything, Everything Everywhere All at Once deserves to fall somewhere within the top 40, possibly even the top 30. The film has every reason to pull ahead of the pack, but has been disparagingly relegated to a spot that suggests it was only barely able to squeak on to the list at all.
It can be argued that Everything Everywhere All at Once is a film that requires multiple viewings to get the most out of, with every split-second detail of the film’s kaleidoscopic depiction of the multiverse too easy to miss in a single watch alone. Perhaps the 500 stars, industry professionals, and famous film fans polled by The New York Times hadn’t yet gotten around to a second viewing.
Some Say Everything Everywhere All At Once Is Overrated – I Disagree
Contrarians Are Frightened By The Film’s Unique Appeal
Recency bias is always a tricky thing to look out for, but Everything Everywhere All at Once has suffered from a bizarre twist on this cognitive phenomenon. Instead of being overrated due to its nascence, the film has actually quickly become subject to harsh retroactive criticism that undermines its genuine value for no reason other than to be contrarian.
Watch it and have fun before film Twitter tells you it’s overrated.
The film’s dreadful retroactive criticism can best be chalked up by a Letterboxd review by CosmonautMarkie, the account of film YouTuber The Cosmonaut Variety Hour, which reads “Watch it and have fun before film Twitter tells you it’s overrated“. Sadly, the sentiment this review refers to has spread far beyond Twitter, but sums up the prevailing sentiment.
Detractors will cite the rapid pace and assault to the senses Everything Everywhere All at Once provides as a point of contention, calling it overloaded, random, and chaotic. But none of these descriptions need to exist in opposition to quality, and such statements grossly overlook the poignant emotional core the spectacle surrounds.
Just for daring to be entertaining, Everything Everywhere All at Once has found itself turning over in public opinion. I still firmly regard Everything Everywhere All at Once highly as a generational film that cracks the top 50 of the 21st century’s most important and captivating.
Source: The New York Times
