HOT on the heels of last week’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness comes yet one more feature concerned with the possibilities of parallel existences. It’s catching. And yet, on a mere fraction of the Disney/Marvel budget, Everything Everywhere All at Once achieves so much more.

The film stars Michelle Yeoh as world weary and frustrated laundromat Evelyn Quan Wang. Indiana Jones and The Goonies star Ke Huy Quan plays her husband, Waymond, with The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel’s Stephanie Hsu as her daughter, Joy, and James Hong as orthodox Chinese father, Gong Gong. There are roles too for Jamie Lee Curtis, Tallie Medel and Jenny Slate. An accomplished cast indeed.

It is while attending a meeting with Internal Revenue Service inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Lee Curtis) that Evelyn first learns of the existence of parallel universes. What a shock. Nobody expects their partner to suddenly transform into an alternate version of themselves from a different universe but that’s exactly what happens.

Parallel universe Waymond - so called “Alpha Waymond” - informs Evelyn that every new choice made in her own universe creates another; a parallel. In the Alphaverse, an variant Evelyn developed the technology to hop between these universes but has since died. Before she passed, Alpha Evelyn created a monster in her daughter. Now known as Jobu Tupaki, the former Alpha Joy found her mind splintered after Alpha Evelyn pushed her to extensively verse-jump. Tupaki now experiences all universes at once and has the power to destroy each and every one of them.

Written and directed by Swiss Army Man auteurs Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert - better known as: “the Daniels” - Everything Everywhere All at Once boasts Marvel legends Anthony and Joe Russo as executive producers and comes from acclaimed distributors A24. The film has already proved a huge hit across the Atlantic and hopes to match that success as with its arrival in Europe.

Yeoh is outstanding and continues to ride the wave of an impressive Hollywood resurgence. Watch out for the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star again in James Cameron’s long awaited Avatar sequel later this year. It helps that the film around her offers many opportunities to shine.

The film is bold, brave, frenetic and heaps of fun. Certainly, the absence of leaden requirements to defer to the demands of a wider cinematic universe pays dividends.