Y2K

Film: Y2K

Year: 2024

Director: Kyle Mooney

Writers: Kyle Mooney and Evan Winter

Starring: Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zeglar and Julian Dennison

Review:

This was a film that I saw showing at the Gateway Film Center. I tend to see what is playing when I’m at work to see if there is anything that I need to plan to check out. When I realized this was a comedy/horror film from 2024, I worked it into my schedule. The extent of what I’ve said here and knowing that it starred Jaeden Martell, I came in blind.

Synopsis: two high school students who are 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.

Now I’ll start by saying that this film wears on its sleeve that it takes place in 1999. Having been a junior high student during this time, it did make me smile with all the nods and homages. I do think that it goes too far over the top. It is also funny that all the students weren’t even alive yet aside from a couple just being born, but I digress.

We follow Eli (Martell). He has a crush on Laura (Rachel Zegler), who works for the school website and she has coder experience. Eli sees an in as she recently broke up with her boyfriend who attends community college. I did want to point out here that his parents are Robin (Alicia Silverstone) and Howard (Tim Heidecker). Eli heads over to his best friend’s house. He is Danny (Julian Dennison).

They’re on winter break and they have to decide what they’re going to do for NYE. They go to a local video store where we meet Garret (Kyle Mooney). He invites them to an abandoned factory to hang out with his friends who call themselves ‘the kollective’. Our duo also gets bullied outside by Farkas (Eduardo Franco) and his crew. They include Ash (Lachlan Watson) who has a video camera and CJ (Daniel Zolghadri). Their last stop before heading home is to a convenience store where Laura and her crew show up. They bolt though as they steal beer.

These two go back to Danny’s and he goads Eli about going to the party. He finally snaps, breaks the lock off a cabin of alcohol and they get drunk. This gives him the courage he needs. The party is at Soccer Chris’ (The Kid LAROI) house. We see that everyone, regardless of friend group, is in attendance. What is heartbreaking is that Eli gets bullied by multiple people, including Danny who doesn’t realize what he’s doing. It also hurts that Laura seems interested in Soccer Chris. Everything gets turned upside down though when the power goes out at midnight. It comes back on, but they have bigger problems with something else that comes to life.

That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Now as someone who doesn’t watch trailers, I’m not sure what they give away about this movie. I came in not knowing what type of movie we’d get, just that it takes place at the turn of the millennium. It made sense what we get here so I’ll be as cryptic as possible to anyone who doesn’t know like I did. It reminds me of a combination of a schlocky, yet popular, horror film from the 1980s that combines elements of Tetsuo: The Iron Man and virtual reality. That’s where I’ll leave it.

Now that I’ve set that up, something that is interesting is that we’re almost 25+ years removed from Y2K. I remember it being a big deal and then it just passed without an issue. I was born in the late 1980s so I’m not sure if there were patches or just something that was overblown to help prevent major issues. Setting a movie in the past to when I was in junior high makes me feel old. Seeing programs like AOL Instant Messenger and what not adds to it. It was fun to get the references. My only issue here is that they go over the top with it. Since I connected with so much, I overlook it due to nostalgia. I can see people getting annoyed by it as well.

Since I’m treading lightly to not spoil, I’ll say what I can about the villain. What I will do is that this involves technology which makes sense. There is a virus of sorts that is affecting things with computer chips. I loved this idea. It does get played at times for comedic value, but since this is a comedy horror, which makes sense. The biggest issue here is that I think if they developed this just a bit more and added more into the horror realm, this works better. Instead, it does focus more on the development of Eli to become the hero. That’s probably my biggest gripe. With how they start this character, I understand why we need the arch that we get. This just went on a more local scale instead of global. I also think it might be too ambitious and difficult to pull off.

I think I’ll shift over to discuss acting performances since this is a character study of our lead. Martell works here as this character who doesn’t have high self-esteem. He has his one friend and a crush on Laura. He doesn’t have the confidence. It is through this night that he develops and it feels real. Zegler was cute. I think she fits this popular girl who has more under the surface. That is needed for a movie like this. Dennison works as Eli’s best friend. He has a hilarious scene where he sings ‘The Thong Song’. Zolghadri, Watson and Franco work as these stoner, reject kids. Mooney is hilarious in his cameo along with Silverstone, Heidecker, Mason Gooding and even Fred Durst. I’ll just leave this here and say that everyone helps make the comedy work.

All that is left then is filmmaking. I thought that making this feel like the 90s worked. If anything, they go over the top there. Showing the scope of where this world is with what is happening worked. I did like the practical effects. That was something I wanted more of. The blood looked good though. There is CGI here, not all of it holds up. They don’t go over the top though. The music used did make me smile for fitting the era, but this also goes back to probably not working for everyone.

In conclusion, I had fun with this one. Not one that you can over analyze. There is an interesting message here that is relative though with artificial intelligence. It is interesting to look at 25+ years ago. I thought that the acting worked, especially for the comedy aspects. The horror and story could be developed just a bit more to make everything work better. This is made well enough. Capturing the era, the practical effects and soundtrack lead the way here for sure. I don’t think everyone will enjoy this, but I’ll say one last time that I had fun here.

My Rating: 7 out of 10