‘Y2K’ Review – ‘SNL’s Kyle Mooney Heads Back to the ’90s in Entertaining, but Underwhelming Directorial Debut

Throughout his career, Kyle Mooney has always had an interest in the decade he grew up in, the 1990s. As a cast member on Saturday Night Live, he was part of numerous sketches that parodied that period’s entertainment (like in the animated short, “Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles”). There’s a throwback feel to Brigsby Bear, which he also co-wrote and starred in, and Netflix’s Saturday Morning All Star Hits! is a deeply-referential and absurd take on children’s television from the decade. Even when there’s an overwhelming silliness to these homages—and there usually is—they come from a place of love for this period. Mooney explores them with a specificity and knowledge of the period that few others can match. Mooney is seemingly the only guy today making entertainment that directly references Bobby’s World, Nintendo’s Power Glove, and the wild cartoon/anti-drug PSA, Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue. As a fellow child of the ‘90s, it’s easy to appreciate Mooney’s adoration for this time.

So it makes sense that Mooney’s directorial debut, Y2K, takes place on one of the most important days of the ‘90s: December 31, 1999, as we all feared the year 2000 would bring about the downfall of all technology. It’s a great conceit that plays with the teen movies of the ‘90s era, the wild period of music that brought us such greats as Limp Bizkit, Chumbawumba, and “Thong Song,” and plenty of excellent references to the decade. But beyond the ‘90s references, Y2K is an underwhelming, but mostly entertaining movie that never quite goes as far as it should with its concept, comedy, or the relationships between its characters.

What Is ‘Y2K’ About?

Set on New Year’s Eve 1999, Y2K follows two high school juniors, Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison), who decide, instead of just goofing around, playing video games, and slowly trying to download porn on 1999 computers, they’re going to spend the night at a New Year’s Eve party. Danny almost immediately becomes the life of the party while Eli has his sights set on getting closer to Laura (Rachel Zegler), a popular girl in school who has impressive computer skills, and whom Eli has an awkward friendship with. It seems as though Eli’s NYE dreams are dashed, as Laura ends up ringing in the New Year kissing a guy known simply as Soccer Chris (The Kid LAROI). But once the clock strikes twelve, all the electricity goes out. Y2K actually happened, and it’s way worse than anyone expected.

Technology didn’t shut down, but rather, it has decided to rise up against their human overlords city by city, killing anyone who gets in their way. These killing machines are collections of different devices with a quest to stop the human race. If you’ve ever wanted to see a Tamagotchi murder a person, Y2K has you covered. As the party literally dies, Eli, Danny, and Laura attempt to survive the robot onslaught and hopefully stop the uprising before they take over the world.

‘Y2K’ Is Fun, but Doesn’t Reach Its Full Potential

Y2K is an excellent setup, but Mooney’s film, which he wrote with Evan Winter, doesn’t fully capitalize on its various elements. While the robots themselves are a delightful combination of outdated technology, we don’t get much time with these strange creations. Mooney’s humor most clearly comes out in videos the computers have made to explain their plans, and it’s just the type of techno-weirdness that feels specific to the period. These robots are also seemingly practical, and it’s nice to watch them maneuver and attack, but it unfortunately happens too rarely to even seem like an effective threat.

Mooney and Winter’s script never quite hits as hard as it should with its ideas or attempts at comedy and romance. The story always stays enjoyable, but rarely elicits laugh-out-loud jokes. Again, Y2K’s funniest moments come when Mooney embraces his love of the time’s culture and plays to that as a strength, as when an extremely period-appropriate bully, played by Stranger Things’ Eduardo Franco, attempts a badass rollerblading trick, set to a Limp Bizkit song. The timing in the moment is perfect, and the ridiculous way the scene plays out is brilliant, but moments like this are too few and far between. Instead, Y2K occasionally ekes out a giggle here and there, but the humor doesn’t land as well as one would hope.

‘Y2K’s Characters and Relationships Make Up for the Film’s Weaknesses

However, what does often work nicely are the relationship dynamics we see pop up in this living nightmare. Martell and Dennison play well off each other, with almost a Superbad/Shaun of the Dead vibe to their friendship. This crew also takes off with CJ (Daniel Zolghadri), a wannabe rapper who only listens to hip-hop with a deeper meaning, and Ash (Lachlan Watson), a diehard Limp Bizkit fan who was the only girl in her crew, led by Franco’s Farkas. These two are clearly intended to be broad stereotypes, but as the night goes on, a delightful connection starts to form between them. While it’s often a way for Mooney to poke fun at the music of the time, their dynamic finds a nice core that is somewhat surprising.

In fact, Y2K is arguably at its best when the references and the robotic uprising take the backseat and we get to just spend time with these characters interacting. There’s also not enough time for the relationship between Eli and Laura to fully blossom, but the moments they do get together also show a warmth and sweetness that the film could’ve used a bit more of. As this group gets closer together, especially in our final scenes with the gang, Mooney does hit on a bond that works well, but that’s unfortunately not quite the intended focus of the film.

Even though Y2K is a brilliant idea that doesn’t explore its potential as well as it should, it’s still charming and playful in a way that makes it an amusing watch; the kind that two dorky teenagers might’ve rented from a Blockbuster back in the ‘90s. Mooney knows how to hit on what makes this such a fun decade to explore, and there are plenty of moments where he is truly hitting on jokes that will make audience members of a certain age giggle with glee, from Tae Bo fights to amateur devil sticks demonstrations, and Fred Durst appearing as himself. As we’ve seen with Mooney’s career so far, the dream of the ‘90s is alive in him, yet with Y2K, we need a bit more than just those sick references.

Y2K comes to theaters on December 6.

Get tickets