Y2K

If you're familiar at all with the writer/director, Kyle Mooney from his work on SNL, he often parodies TV shows and cartoons of the 90's.and is frankly hilarious.

This movie, however wasn't a parody of the 90's, it simply takes place there, which I feel was a missed opportunity.

The one thing I did like about this movie was the strong nostalgia elicited. To his credit, Mooney does a thorough job of casually referencing just about every major 90's technology/song/slang/fashion etc that I could think of..

Short of that, the plot and characters were lacking and forgettable. There wasn't the snappy or clever dialogue of similar films like Superbad.

Verdict: If you are an early millennial (like myself), you might have a bit of fun spotting the numerous 90's references but don't go in expecting laughs.

FYI, I would highly recommend checking out some of Kyle Mooney's work on SNL. His corny 90's parody sketches make me laugh every time.

"Y2K" has to be one of the strangest films A24 has released. A nostalgia-filled comedy following a group of teenagers navigating a 1999 where the bug was real and created a post-apocalyptic world doesn't exactly scream "made by A24." That very real paranoia train missed me, so I can't relate. I went in open-minded, hoping for something crazy. After seeing it, it's utterly ridiculous, but it oddly works!

To start the positives, all the actors delivered solid performances, especially Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison, and Rachel Zegler as Eli, Danny, and Laura, respectively. They all have charisma and pleasant comedic timing, and I wound up caring to see if Eli would get together with Laura.

I also feel that Kyle Mooney did great work for his directorial debut. I've seen a few of his films, but I completely forgot that he was the writer and star in "Brigsby Bear." I have a tremendous amount of respect for that film and believe it single-handedly got me into art-house movies. Mooney understands how to make comedy bits land while sprinkling dramatic and horror moments here.

Speaking of comedy, it's not the best in the genre, but many jokes had me laughing. One has to do a Sisqó song and not to discredit the rest of the experience, but that was the best part of the entire film. Unfortunately, the rest of the comedy is hit-or-miss, but it's hilarious when the electronics come to life and begin their murderous rampage!

Finally, the film runs at 1 hour and 30 minutes. Though there are negatives that I'll get to in a second, the runtime is not one of them. It's never tedious, and I was always curious about what insane things the film would do next.

I'm surprised with how much good is in the film, but sadly, a few things were holding it back from being a classic. However, it does have a high chance of being a cult classic.

The first semi-negative, perhaps the most obvious problem, is that the movie feels like it came out in 1999. Sometimes, it works, but numerous references went over my head, left me confused, or felt dated. Those who lived through Y2K will likely understand them more than a general moviegoer today. In addition, while I wanted Eli and Laura to get together, the narrative has cliches. I won't go into detail to avoid spoilers, but it did feel like the film wanted to emulate one that came out in 1999. I've seen a handful of movies released from that year, and "Y2K" is easily comparable to those films, for better or worse.

Remember when I said the comedy was inconsistent? Indeed, many jokes didn't land, I couldn't understand or were hilariously bad. For that last part, and I'll be vague, a character knows that the world is falling apart but decides to do something idiotic. The decision's harmless with the right expertise, but a miscalculation leads to the character's death. This character didn't need technology to go, only stupidity. I was baffled and couldn't help but burst out laughing. It was an avoidable death. The deaths leading up to this moment were all technology's fault! You'll know which scene I'm talking about when you see the movie!

Overall, "Y2K" is one of the year's most ridiculous yet charming films. It won't be for everyone, as it never takes itself seriously. You'll likely have a good time if you go in with those expectations!

Technically, the performances, Kyle Mooney's directing, and the impressive practical effects make the technical score an 8/10.

For the enjoyment score, I found it fun, but you need to go in with the right expectations. Expect a highly unrealistic, bordering on screwball, yet always entertaining time that never cares about logic. On those fronts, the enjoyment score is a 7/10. It's an amusing ride under the right circumstances, and I'm excited to see what Mooney does next!

This is one I was looking forward to for a while and I had reasonable expectations for it. However what it ultimately became was kind of forgettable.

Pros.

The humor can really be on point here and there and there is a really good chemistry between the two leads. The best friend dynamic was really on point, with some Super Bad vibes. The aesthetic was also on point, as someone who was in high school during this period, they nailed it. There was some good side characters that really helped pull the weight of the film. Also some death scenes were funny.

Cons.

The story seemed so good at the beginning, it really set up the characters and world nicely but if you were expecting the fun times that the trailer teased, you will be disappointed. After the initial shock of Y2K begins, it really comes undone. There is a main character that dies and it just didn't feel warranted, at least not yet. Then another death of a main side character happens almost immediately afterwards for comic effect and its really funny but doesn't work overall because of the previous death needed more time to sink in, or not happen at all. So two of the funniest characters are dead in like 30 mins... Not a good sign of things to come.

Then the characters just roam around with some side characters that were not the focus before but move into the spot light and it distracts from the main characters plight. Speaking of, he is just so bland and uninteresting that I couldn't care about him or his Crush(Laura) who also was bland, and they try so hard to make us like her but I couldn't.

Combine this with a wasted cameo towards the end and a blah ending and this movie absolutely falls apart and wishing it made good with what the movie the trailer promised. Also the acting is very hit or miss.

Overall, it's pretty forgettable but maybe it can be revisited for nostalgia, much like the movie. So meta.

5/10.

The defining feature of Y2K is it's rather startling accuracy. They included all of the details, even some you might have forgotten. I think this has a low score because it's TOO realistic. This is a lot like being young in the 90s and early 2000s with a dorky intensity that may not appeal to the Zoomers or Alphas who are a similar age in 2025 and want some ultra-sick year 2000 aesthetics that only existed in media. I can just see their bored and confused looks of disapproval from a distance.

It's a fun watch. This is a comedy way more than a horror movie and it won't be a meaningful experience for anyone over 50 or under 35.

This could have been good. The concept is there, you have a cast that was willing to put themselves in goofy situations and obviously the budget to create something memorable. What went wrong? The limp direction and the forced screenplay.

Firstly, the acting is awful. Not because of the cast, but because the screenplay is written with so many hamfisted jokes thrown in that it gave the actors little room breathe, not to mention these are not traditionally comic actors. Felt bad for the leads, because I know they are capable of much more than this.

Secondly, the script needs more work. Nobody talked like this in the 90s. You got the references and the slang, but none of the delivery. Not a single bit of dialog felt natural to the scene. The comedy only works maybe a quarter of the time because the jokes are so sudden and forced.

Thirdly, where is the shock value? For a movie like this to work, there needed to be more shock. A bit more graphic violence, maybe a bit more nudity. Something to make me say "Whoa!". It felt tame for the subject matter and general feel of the film. Should've taken the murderous robot scheme further.

Overall, it was trash. Unbelievable, not funny and childish. I would only recommend watching it if it's free on streaming and you have absolutely nothing else to watch on a rainy afternoon.

1 brain implant out of 5.