Y2K (2024) review

Dir. Kyle Mooney

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★

The Y2K scare was over 25 years ago, yet similar to the 2012 phenomenon that gripped countless, it remains a cultural touchstone. A refresh might be in order. In 1999, there became grave concerns about the potential for computer errors that might occur with the onset of the brand new year. Many computers at the time were programmed to display/compute years with only the final two digits. As a result, the year “2000” was indistinguishable from “1900” in the mind of a computer.

Computers’ inability to comprehend dates beyond 1999 led to the belief that various institutions, which were beginning to adopt technology at a rapid pace, would be undone by potentially catastrophic glitches. For the most part, the panic-buying and fearmongering led to a whole lot of nothing, in large thanks to computer programmers who worked tirelessly to mitigate computers’ shortcomings. However, it does show how the relative newness of personal computers at the time still led to a great uncertainty about their future with the dawn of the new millennium.

Fast-forward to present-day and the concept of “Y2K” is both a funny memory and an era unto itself. Filmmaker Kyle Mooney, in his directorial debut, plays the eponymous phenomenon as if computers became sentient on New Year’s Day 2000 and tried to turn against humanity. The compelling premise unfortunately leads to half-baked results as the cast chemistry is spotty, the pacing is off, and the laughs simply aren’t there.

Initially, the movie revolves around Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison), two friends whose personalities remind one of Michael Cera’s Evan and Jonah Hill’s Seth in Superbad (Hill is also a producer here). Eli is shy and seemingly incapable of getting the attention of his crush Laura (Rachel Zegler), where Danny is brash and unapologetically himself. Without much to do on New Year’s, they attend a party crawling with popular kids in hopes of both fitting in yet standing out.

The clock eventually strikes midnight, and in a matter of seconds, technology starts to wreak havoc on the house party. A robot uprising begins to occur, with computers taking the form of monsters risen from the scrap-heap and remote-control cars brandishing weaponry of all kinds. How were these machines created? The film is too busy to stop and answer that.

Mooney — whose 2017 screenwriting debut, Brigsby Bear, was a surprisingly poignant ode to a life lived in front of the TV — makes two mistakes very early that prove fatal to Y2K‘s otherwise creative concept. The first is killing off the most lovable character in the initial technological takeover. Not only was this character shouldering much of the movie’s charisma on his back, along with the era-appropriate costumes and décor, but he was also almost exclusively responsible for some of its few laughs up until that point.

The second is the whole party sequence packing the punch of a climax merely 30-something minutes into the film. It’s by-far the most entertaining set-piece in the movie. We get to see a contemptible jock played by Australian singer The Kid LAROI (or Charlton Howard, as he’s credited) get offed by a microwave, and a handful of other creative kills that recall Chopping Mall and other nostalgic cheese. From there, however, sets into motion an uninspired foursome of 90s teen stereotypes wandering aimlessly around their rapidly disintegrating locale in search of a way to fight the computers that are trying to overtake humanity.

Because characters are so disposable in Mooney and Winter’s movie, it becomes clear very early that getting attached to anyone is fruitless. That said, the larger problem is that it doesn’t allow for cast chemistry to take shape. The jokes themselves also become repetitive. When Mooney shows up as a stoner video-store worker, we’re aware of what kind of humor will define Y2K, and it’s not nearly as smart as the cartoonishly brutal kills. It’s also a film overloaded by 90s needle-drops; too many, in fact, as if it’s self-conscious about its material. There’s a reason it should be.

Further evidence that all of this might’ve worked better as a short film (Mooney got his mainstream start on Saturday Night Live, after all), Y2K‘s third act is largely defined by an extended cameo from a 90s rock-star that just feels sad the longer it goes on. What’s initially amusing becomes stale fast, emblematic of a movie that starts and stops so frequently that it becomes inert — faintly held together by flashes of inspiration that come from its sparing use of animation (further indicative that we’re in the middle of an analog/dawn-of-the-digital-age renaissance) and clear passion from its creators, as misguided as it often feels.

Starring: Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison, Rachel Zegler, Daniel Zolghadri, Lachlan Watson, Eduardo Franco, Mason Gooding, Kyle Mooney, Charlton Howard, Tim Heidecker, and Alicia Silverstone. Directed by: Kyle Mooney.