By George & Josh Bate
At the dawn of the advanced technology-era in the 1960s and 70s, early programmers were forced to work with limited memory and space capacities due to their inflated cost at the time. In an effort to save room on the new machines, they opted to shrink years down to two digits (i.e., 1989 is 89). That strategy worked until the late 90s, but some began to fear that computers wouldn’t know how to handle the turn of the millennium and the arrival of the year 2000. The fear became that computers would then misinterpret the year 2000 as 1900, for example, which would likely result in system crashes, data corruption, and other issues. These concerns came at the same time that many companies around the world realized that their computer systems were vulnerable to the problem, as well as a whole host of online security threats. The public became increasingly worried about the prospect of technological failure, particularly as most industries had already switched over to computer systems (banking, transportation, utilities, and more). Many began to fear that power grid failures, economic collapse, and chaos across the globe were coming as the year 2000 approached. This theory of an impending apocalypse, termed ‘Y2K’ by many, was a massive phenomenon, but the lack of movies and shows about the event is surprising, leaving the door wide open for filmmakers to take this concept and run with it. That’s exactly what Kyle Mooney does with his new disaster comedy Y2K.
The A24 movie directed and co-written by Kyle Mooney (largely known for his work as a writer and cast member on NBC’s Saturday Night Live) follows a group of misfit high schoolers on the verge of celebrating the turn of the millennium. Their typical high school anxieties of finding romantic partners and securing alcohol are suddenly disrupted when the prophesized Y2K event actually happens and technology all around them abruptly and violently turns against them. What results is a treacherous night in which the teens fight for survival, make unexpected alliances, and embrace the culture of the 1990s in ways no one thought possible.
Initially, Y2K plays like a typical high school comedy, not dissimilar from Superbad or She’s All That. Jaeden Martell (Knives Out, It) stars as Eli, an awkward teenage boy hoping to connect with his longtime crush Laura (played by Rachel Zegler) at a New Years party with the help of his friend Danny (played by Julian Dennison). For the first act, Y2K excels in its exploration of this subgenre of comedy with plenty of funny moments and cringe-worthy high school awkwardness. It is around the beginning of the second act when the film takes a narrative turn (with the dawn of the millennium and Y2K actually happening) that it begins to stumble with a mismatched tone.
What was before a straight-up comedy now becomes a blend of horror and comedy, but one that never quite strikes the balance of these two genres. Moments of violence or emotional devastation are frequently accompanied so closely by high school comedy movie humor in a jarring and disjointed manner. It is not that the film even balances the tones of a horror and comedy, instead seemingly swapping tones on a scene-by-scene basis. For instance, major character deaths occur, which are only sufficiently addressed sporadically in the remaining film and are awkwardly interspersed with more of the same flavor of humor. One of the most apt comparisons to Y2K is This is the End, a disaster comedy that far surpasses Y2K in its ability to fuse a horrifying apocalyptic situation with an appropriate sense of humor.
Going in Y2K’s favor is an unpredictably seldom found in comedies. As stated, major characters die, which come as big surprises in a film one would not expect to be so significantly surprised by. In turn, the story is imbued with real stakes as the audience knows that any of the heroes could be next to go at any time. This sense of unpredictability makes the film feel a bit jarring initially, although the narrative eventually settles down as the immediate aftermath of the technological disaster subsides.
With Y2K, director and co-writer Mooney borrows from all sorts of movies. As mentioned, there is Superbad and This is the End, but there are also more unexpected cuts like Robert Rodriguez’ The Faculty. References to such films are never heavy-handed to the point that characters are winking at the audience, but are done so with a genuine love and respect from the filmmakers.
This love and respect continues to shine through in Y2K’s portrayal of the 1990s, which is arguably the film’s greatest strength. Mooney fully immerses the audience in 90s style, music, and culture, resulting in a genuine love letter to the era. None of these elements are exaggerated, which is a trap other films have fallen into in depicting a given era like the 80s or 90s. From the very beginning of the film, which sees Eli navigate the internet on an old Windows computer, it is clear that the filmmakers have their finger firmly on the pulse of what made the late 90s feel so unique and do their utmost to convey that on the screen. As the film progresses, the success of much of its humor hinges more and more on one’s understanding and apprehension of U.S. culture in the late 1990s, although it never entirely alienates younger viewers with less knowledge of this era.
Y2K frequently generates laughs, some of which are the sort of crowd-pleasing moments one goes to see a movie in a theater for. There are big laughs to be had here, which will be best appreciated among a group of people who also have a certain reverence for the late 90s. That being said, there is an element of missed opportunity here as the script is rarely quite as clever or original as the filmmakers are trying to make it be. Look no further than the brilliant Tim Heidecker, whose incredible comedic talents go largely wasted in a throwaway role as Eli’s father (although Mooney himself is a standout as a pot-smoking, dreadlock-wearing video rental store employee). Sporting an incredible premise, talented young cast, and a genuine immersion into the late 90s, Y2K could have been a modern classic for the horror comedy genre blend, but, instead, the final product is one that more so entertains in the moment rather than lingers in the memory.
VERDICT: 6.5/10
Y2K takes the prophecy of a technological apocalypse at the turn of the millennium, a premise surprisingly unexplored in film and television, and turns it into an unpredictable yet tonally mismatched teen comedy. Although a talented young cast help deliver Superbad-esque laughs throughout, Kyle Mooney’s feature directorial debut stumbles as it jarringly balances the tone of an apocalyptic horror movie and high school comedy. Lovingly borrowing from all sorts of films, from The Faculty to This is the End, Y2K excels as an immersive love letter to the late 1990s, with genuine thought and appreciation gone into the way in which this distinctive era of U.S. culture is portrayed. And it is as a love letter to the late 90s that the film achieves all sorts of big laughs that are the sort of crowd pleasing moments one goes to see a movie in theaters for. Genuinely funny throughout, especially when Mooney’s pot-smoking, dreadlock-wearing video rental store employee character Garrett is on screen, there is plenty to enjoy about Y2K, even if there is real missed opportunity here to make the most of a clever premise and talented young cast.