I HAD NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE it; a father lifting a car. It was a news clip being shown on TV that I had seen decades ago; but it has always stayed with me. I was in elementary school when I saw this man racing over to the car that accidently ran over his son. He got up to the rear bumper on the passenger side, squatted down, grabbed the underside with both hands and strained as he tried to lift the car high enough to free his son’s leg. A woman, maybe the boy’s mother, came into view and grabbed the boy from underneath his arms. I swear I saw it with my own eyes; the car’s wheel barely rose, but it provided enough wiggle room for the woman to pull the young boy away. The whole scene amazed me as I focused on the man, to see if I could figure out his secret power on how he was able to lift an automobile off the ground. What did the man tap into that gave him superstrength, was he a weightlifter, did he have some special power; these were the things I was thinking about, hoping I could learn and gain such a superpower.      THAT EPISODE WAS A HUGE CATALYST for my imagination to take off so I could reimagine myself in different roles. I would watch sporting events in a new light. Seeing the ice-skating competitions, I reimagined myself as a premier ice skater who could do a series of jumps, one after another after another without ever falling on the ice. Or I would now watch television game shows and see myself as a contestant who was getting all the right answers or moves. And the most important aspect of my new way of thinking was the ability to cope a little better with the bullying I started experiencing. After an episode of abuse, I would replay the event in my mind but with me being a superhero who could grab the perpetrator, spin him over my head then release him at high speed, so I could watch him sail over the trees, far away from me. Playing out this type of scenario had the ability to calm me down faster than any other method. If an incident took place during gym period, I would imagine different ways to attack the bully with the various sports equipment in the gymnasium or swimming pool. I know this may sound dark, but it was the only defense I had to help me get through these times; being able to tap into a different version of myself, just like some of the characters in this action, adventure comedy.      HER LIVELIHOOD TEETERING ON BANKRUPTCY, HER husband unhappy and a demanding father was more than what Evelyn Wang, played by Michelle Yeoh (Crazy Rich Asians, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), thought she could handle. That was until she began to have visions of a different Evelyn. With Stephanie Hsu (The Path-TV, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel-TV) as Joy Wang, Ke Huy Quan (The Goonies, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) as Waymond Wang, James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China, R.I.P.D.) as Gong Gong and Jamie Lee Curtis (Knives Out, Halloween franchise) as Deirdre Beaubeirdra; for me, the saving grace of this film was Michelle and Jamie. If it wasn’t for them, I would have lost interest in the story that I did not find particularly funny or exciting. Michelle was terrific as she went through a variety of emotional versions of herself. I liked the idea of the story, but after a while it felt like the script was just repeating itself. Jamie was the funny one for me; she used a specific physical comedy I could not recall having seen before. If the script was trying to convey a satire or message, I did not receive it. 

2 ½ stars