Approx advert and trailer run time: 25 mins
Film runtime: 2h 19m
A Chinese-American family’s lives are changed forever across multiple universes in Daniels’ ambitious second feature.
The film introduces the laundromat-owning family: the short-tempered Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) who is having a midlife crisis; her gentle, meek husband Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan) who feels neglected in their failing marriage; and their alienated daughter Joy Wang (Stephanie Hsu) who struggles with Evelyn’s intolerance of her basic identities.
While the dysfunctional family tries to juggle Evelyn’s father Gong Gong’s (James Hong) birthday party and IRS agent Deirdre Beaubeirdra’s (Jamie Lee Curtis) tax audit of their family business, Evelyn is given the opportunity to universe-jump and experience alternate lives.
A wholly original movie at a time when originality is in short supply.