Which World Do I Live In?

Everyone everywhere loves “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” In it you can learn lots of things about parallel worlds in the Many Worlds Theory, as experienced by a middle-aged immigrant named Evelyn (played by Michele Yeoh) who has trouble with the laundromat she owns with her husband and they have trouble with an audit by the IRS and an evil IRS agent (played by Jamie Lee Curtis). Freaking realistic!

But here are some things that are different in Evelyn’s parallel worlds than in the usual Hollywood universe:

1. In the Hollywood universe, young and beautiful women (played by ingenue actresses) frequently have a problem with their mothers, and the mothers, who are old or at least middle-aged, might turn out to be monsters. In EEAAO the laundromat-owner-mother has trouble because her daughter is difficult, and in the parallel worlds, her daughter is a monster.
2. In the parallel worlds of EEAAO instead of being a drab house-wifey person, Evelyn is a glamorous rich lady. Or a Kung Fu fighter. Or some other romantic or dramatically brave figure, not a scrawny old thing like Frances McDormand in “Nomadland.” (Except they both won Oscars.)
3. In most of the parallel worlds, the monster-daughter, named Joy, wears different makeup every time. Really complicated makeup with sort of opalescent beaded stuff stuck to her cheeks. Very dramatic eyes, too. And she seems to have superpowers. And want to kill her mother. Or maybe that’s just a villainous identity named Jobu Tupaki that’s infiltrated her. Not like Hollywood worlds.
4. Also, Joy/Jobu worships a bagel. (Sorry, that might be a spoiler. But it’s an important part of parallel worlds, maybe even in the original Physics Theory.)
5. There are lots of other worlds too. Evelyn encounters different versions of the evil IRS lady in these worlds. For example, there’s a world where a pianist can use her toes instead of fingers on the keyboard. (Were those real toes or CGI toes? Can anyone really play the piano with their toes? Informed minds want to know.) 
6. Also Evelyn inhabits a parallel world exactly like the one where the space ship ends up in “2001 A Space Odyssey” — the characters are big rocks. This parallel world is hard to understand, and something happens there at the end but no more spoilers.

You know what? Unlike everyone in our world, I seem to inhabit a parallel world where I don’t like this movie. How can I snap back into the real Oscar-dominated universe where I perhaps belong?

This not me, it is Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn the fractured character.

Review © 2023 mae sander, images from google.