Y2K Review

Y2K certainly has some fun ideas. It’s a comedy film set in an alternate 1999 where the real-life non-event that was the Y2K scare, not only comes true but with a murderous twist. Y2K is a film dripping with 90’s nostalgia literally starting with the dial-up noise and AOL AIM chat boxes. But behind all the Limp Bizkit and Clinton references the film doesn’t have much substance.

It’s New Year’s Eve 1999. Eli (IT’s Rachel Zegler) a popular girl who only seems interested in interacting with him via chat room. But once the clock strikes midnight in the new millennium, the film becomes a bloody post-apocalypse piece, as household gadgets and computers ignite a bloody war via cartoonish, goofy and very gory murders. A head explodes in the microwave. An electric car welds a blow torch. Someone is murdered by a hybrid machine monster headed by a Tamagotchi with a buzzsaw.

While Y2K has some interesting set-ups and direction it’s ultimately infected with the ‘bug’ of many a mediocre genre comedy – It just isn’t as smart or as funny as it needs to be to balance the tone: You can’t lampshade a cliché and then play twenty cliches straight; You can’t make fun of something for being cringe and then go for heartfelt. It all leaves the film an uneven experience, swinging wildly from tone to tone. Unfortunately, there’s little distinction between when the film is trying to be funny and when it’s trying to be sentimental. As a result, few of the jokes land, and you’re left unsure how you’re supposed to be feeling from moment to moment.

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All the performances are perfectly serviceable. Jaeden Martell is endearing as our shy unlikely hero, whilst Dennison is fun as his boisterous bestie and the life of the party. Zegler, pulling double duty in the UK with a parallel release to Snow White, does her best with Laura but she can’t quite escape the ‘pretty popular prize to be won’ box she’s put in. There are a couple of nonsensical scenes where Laura is berated about being a ‘bad friend’ by a group of people we’ve never seen her be cruel to, and who have only treated her coldly. It all leaves the impression Zegler’s character is just a receptacle for some kind of nerdy wish fulfilment.

Y2K has some twists and turns that genuinely come as a surprise and shake up the group dynamic although not always for the better. Director and co-writer (also appearing as a local stoner and video store employee Garrett) Kyle Mooney (SNL), has a clear love for the period and delights in using all the available techniques at his fingertips from chat rooms to grainy video footage. Y2K will work for those looking for a gross-out nostalgia trip but anyone looking for anything more will be left disappointed.