Y2K, 2024.
Directed by Kyle Mooney.
Starring Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, Julian Dennison, Daniel Zolghadri, Lachlan Watson, Fred Durst, Kyle Mooney, Eduardo Franco, Mason Gooding, The Kid Laroi, Lauren Balone, Alicia Silverstone, Tim Heidecker, Maureen Sebastian, Miles Robbins, Ellie Ricker, Daniel Dale, Luca R Stagnitta, Anzi DiBenedetto, Zachary Clark, Frank Langley IV, Kevin Mangold, Michael Xavier Reitzel, and Alex Schecter.
SYNOPSIS:
Two high school nobodies make the decision to crash the last major celebration before the new millennium on New Year’s Eve 1999. The night becomes even crazier than they could have ever dreamed when the clock strikes midnight.
There is a brilliance ripe with comedic imagination when it comes to the concept of director Kyle Mooney’s Y2K, in that the conspiracy theorized technological takeover at the turn of the millennium turns true and causes mayhem. Working with screenwriter Evan Winter, it’s a stretch to say that Kyle Mooney’s idea lives up to its potential, but it should go down smoothly as hilarious for those who have rose-tinted nostalgia goggles for that era (especially as a teenager) and doubly so for anyone who regularly rocked out to Limp Bizkit.
The less said about the story’s hamfisted attempts at teenage romance, breaking down barriers between high school cliques, thin characterizations, and the general familiarity of machines gone murderous is for the better. However, it should be emphasized that at a brisk 83 minutes without credits, the film coasts on infectious energy and absurd times that many comedies, simply put, don’t reach anymore.
What starts as a Superbad-reminiscent juvenile comedy about two high school senior dork best friends crashing a party to earn some cool points and potentially get laid, all with a New Year’s Eve December 31st, 1999 twist where everyone has either written off the fear as crazy talk or has already built apocalyptic, technology-free shelters, quickly transitions into a surprisingly hyperviolent survivalist tale (the kills here are brutally creative and might scare one away from certain electronic devices momentarily) that smartly never loses its sense of humor, always self-aware that this is ludicrous and not meant to be taken seriously. That is made especially clear when a dying character’s final words are “to be yourself” while handing over a condom to a friend, encouraging him to pursue and protect the girl of his dreams.
In addition to those electronics going violently haywire, computers have become sentient, tapping into an early Internet perception of viruses and hacking alongside creative elements, giving them bodies of metallic junk. Laura (the most popular girl in school and played by Rachel Zegler) happens to be the school’s best coder, mining whatever intelligence she can from decommissioned/Wi-Fi-disconnected computers. Eli (Jaeden Martell) is completely smitten with her but does not know his identity or the social group he belongs to. He is also becoming increasingly defeated as Laura looks like she might reunite with her ex-boyfriend to survive the night.
Just about every social clique one can think of is represented here, from wannabe Slim Shadys to a Slipknot-representing emo hanging around sexual deviants who make “jokes” about her promiscuity all while she is unsure if she actually likes boys (played by Lachlan Watson in what is easily the most intriguing and well-fleshed out character arc) to the selfish frat-types (The Kid Laroi) to the heavyset jokester (Julian Dennison, scoring memorable laughs through his rowdy personality.)
There is also room for amusing adult characters such as Kyle Mooney playing a conspiracy theory-obsessed stoner and Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst in what goes exceedingly beyond cameo territory into a flat-out sidesplitting performance that primarily works since he is entirely comfortable poking fun at himself and the perception around him during that era. It’s also awesome that someone justifiably once considered problematic happens to be cinema-obsessed and unafraid to step into that arena, taking on a variety of roles (he is hauntingly terrifying despite vaguely being seen in Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow) while comfortable working with a diverse range of people, and to put it bluntly, hasn’t become human garbage like, say, Kid Rock.
The filmmakers do seem to overestimate how interesting these characters are, sometimes killing the momentum and screeching the proceedings to a halt, focusing on the occasional one-on-one conversation, all to get these people on the same page and show them that cliques should be abolished in general, not just when up against malevolent machines. There is undeniably little here that will register emotionally, which is somewhat of an issue considering the film is trying to get there. Y2K is otherwise uproariously funny, marks no character sacred from a cruel death, indulges in laugh-out-loud graphic violence, has its pulse on the era, and unabashedly leans all the way into the absurd. It has its issues for sure, but for the most part, the good times keep on rollin.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
