“Everything Everywhere All at Once” Takes Home Seven (Way Too Many) Oscars

On March 12, 2023, I went home with great enthusiasm and excitement for the 95th annual Academy Awards. There were so many great films that I really enjoyed nominated for best picture, and I really hoped that the films that wouldn’t win best picture got some other awards that they really deserved. As the ceremony went on that night, my enthusiasm quickly turned to frustration as the film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” took home seven major awards. I am not saying that this was a bad movie, as it had an interesting premise, solid acting performances and stunning visuals. However, this film did not deserve so many Oscars as if it was the greatest piece of art in cinematic history. 

(The following is the awards the film won and my opinion on each win):

Best Supporting Actor:

One of the first awards presented that night was best supporting actor, taken home by Ke Huy Quan, who portrayed Waymond in the film. This win, actually, was well deserved. Ke really put everything he had into this role playing multiple versions of the same role in various universes. Best known for playing Short Round in the 1984 film, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” it was nice to see him come back to the spotlight after 38 years.

Best Supporting Actress:

Right after Ke Huy Quan won best supporting actor, best supporting actress was presented and given to Jamie Lee Curtis for her performance as IRS inspector Deiredre Beaubeirdre in the film. When they announced Jamie as the winner, shock waves coursed through my spine. Though she did a decent job with this role, the real front-runner was Angela Bassett for her incredible performance in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Whenever her character, Queen Ramonda, was on screen, you could easily be stunned by the emotions radiating off her character. Jamie gave an endearing Oscar acceptance speech, but Angela was robbed.

Best Film Editing: 

Best Film Editing was only a minor award that Everything Everywhere All at Once did deserve, as the editor Paul Rogers did a great job putting this movie together, especially during the montage of various Evylen’s from the various universes.

Best Original Screenplay:

I was disappointed by this win. Though “Everything Everywhere All at Once” had a pretty decent script written by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Martin McDonaugh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin” was filled with crafty dialogue, well written characters and does a great job covering it’s topic about aging, war and friendship. 

Best Director:

Not long after winning best original screenplay, the two Daniels took home the Oscar for best achievement in directing. It is the director’s job to use cinema and technical achievement to tell a story to their audience. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” was kind of all over the place with its storytelling as there were so many random things happening in different universes that really had nothing to do with the film’s themes. For example, there is a universe called Raccacoonie, a parody of the film “Ratatouille,” where a hibachi chef is being controlled by a raccoon. The front-runner for this award for me was Steven Speilberg for his semi-biographical film “The Fablemans.” I thought that he did a beautiful job capturing the emotional difficulty of his childhood and providing a glimpse into his artistic psyche.

Best Actress:

This award was going to go home with either Cate Blacheet for the film “Tar” or Michelle Yeoh for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Though Michelle did do a good job, I really felt like Cate Blanchett was impeccable as Lydia Tar, a polished musician who overtime slowly ruins her career and loses control over her life with questionable personal choices. No disrespect to Michelle Yeoh’s  performance and her martial arts skills, but Cate’s loss was a huge upset.

Best Picture:

It was no shocker that this movie was going to win best picture after winning all the big awards before it. While this film did deserve some Oscars, the academy should have given some other best picture nominees the respect and recognition they deserved rather than give most of the major awards to a single movie whose greatest lasting impact is its helter skelter, attention deficit mother/daughter tale.