By Carley Evans
When you throw together two gay guys about to take the plunge, four couples in various states of marital unrest, a few affairs, an overbearing mother and drug addict. You expect something thought-provoking and full of irony. Instead, you get Bill Marchant’s film Everyone, flat and crammed with trivialities and melodrama.
In order for Merchant to fully explore his motley cast of characters (including a gay teen off the street and a cocktail waitress serving no discernible purpose) and to complete his eight or so sub-plots (three of which involve babies) “Everyone” would need to be more than an hour longer. But it’s not. So promising characters remain two dimensional and impossible to empathize with, once-intriguing subplots feel rushed and unrealistic, and the main plot never really climaxes; a story which had the potential to be moving and funny remains statically dull.
The whole thing looks more like a slap and dash than a cinematic masterpiece. Its lackluster ending doesn’t even leave the viewer any deep thought to ponder, only reiterating how the characters can’t be sympathized with, and resolving none of the problems between the members of the group. Instead of making insightful comments about interpersonal relationships, Everyone is a disappointing collection of stereotypes promising to become more than trivial satire, but never really delivers.