Y2K (2024)
Starring Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, Julian Dennison, Daniel Zolghadri, Lachlan Watson, Eduardo Franco, Fred Durst, Kyle Mooney, Mason Gooding, The Kid Laroi, Miles Robbins, Alicia Silverstone, Tim Heidecker, Lauren Balone, Kevin Mangold, Maureen Sebastian, Ellie Ricker, Jacob Moskovitz, Daniel Dale, Luca R. Stagnitta and Anzi DeBenedetto.
Screenplay by Kyle Mooney.
Directed by Kyle Mooney and Evan Winter.
Distributed by A24. 93 minutes. Rated R.
Y2K was an interesting time in history. A mini panic was sparked for one of the most ridiculous reasons in the world. I still remember being told by people at the time how it was supposed to work. At the time, computer dates only had two-digit years (for example 12/31/99). In the late 90s computers and the internet would think that when the date changed to 01/01/00 that the machines would not be able to compute why we were suddenly in 1900 again and it would cause a massive crash of technology – not just affecting the computers and internets but all things that had a computer footprint – like say electrical plants, airports, banks, etc. Many people were quite concerned that technology would grind to a halt as the calendar turned.
Funny personal Y2K story. On New Years Eve 1999, I was at a party at my friend John’s house. At the stroke of midnight, just as the ball fell on Times Square on TV, a friend had found the house circuit breaker and turned off all the electricity for about a minute before turning it back on, trying to trick the partygoers into thinking the world was coming to an end.
Obviously, the Y2K threat turned out to be much ado about nothing. The New Year came and none of the dire predictions came to pass. Life went on.
The movie Y2K is a comedy horror that takes that basic fear and juices it. What if, instead of all of the computers potentially crashing once the New Year hit, instead that fabled date would have led to a rise of the machines? What if computers took over, violently killing or subjugating all of mankind?
It’s an interesting idea, both for a comedy and a horror film. (Y2K tries to straddle that line, leaning into the humor of the situation while also having quite a few bloody deaths. Honestly, it works better as a comedy than horror – sort of an odd mashup of Superbad and The Terminator – but even the funny parts eventually spin out of control.
Much of Y2K’s humor is a simple matter of showing off outdated technology. Which is fine and funny in doses – I’m sure lots of 90s kids will get a little chill of nostalgia when they hear a dial-up modem or the America Online “You’ve Got Mail” guy. However, that can get a little tiring after a while – particularly since Y2K has gotten some of the dates of their anachronisms wrong and use things that were not available when the story is supposed to be taking place. For example, Sisqo’s hit “Thong Song” wasn’t big until the year 2000 and USB flash drives (which end up playing a huge part in the storyline) were not available until around 2001.
However, beyond that eventually you have to do something with these obsolete gadgets. Y2K has decided to turn them into instruments of death. Well, that’s something.
And early on, Y2K’s technological kills are kind of funny in a sick way, things like people having their hands eaten off by a sink garbage disposal or someone being impaled by flying CDs. However, when the machines start to merge together and become big shambling killer robots, it all gets kind of ridiculous.
It’s probably not a complete surprise that Y2K leans on the comedy more than the scares because it was co-written and directed by Saturday Night Live alumni Kyle Mooney. (He was on SNL from 2013-2022.) It also may help explain why he got some of the Y2K details off – he had just turned 15 when it all happened.
It also has a talented cast – led by Jaeden Martell (It and It Chapter Two) and Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) – in fact, they may be a bit more talented than their roles need.
Still, even if in the long run Y2K doesn’t really work, you have to give them credit for taking a big swing.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: December 5, 2024.
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