It's Just One of Those Days... Y2K Gives Nostalgia, Laughs and So Many Freestyles

Fifteen years ago, when I was sitting around with my buddies, keeled-over laughing at GoodNeighborStuff videos on YouTube, I never imagined that, in 2024, I'd walk into a cinema to watch the directorial debut of Kyle Mooney, a founding member of GoodNeighborStuff and his own YouTube channel. But, after Mooney's successful run on Saturday Night Live and a decent-enough outing as co-writer and star of 2017's Brigsby Bear, A24 has decided to distribute his directorial debut, Y2K, produced in partnership with Jonah Hill's Strong Baby Productions.

Set on New Year's Eve, 1999, the movie asks the question: What if the Y2K scare was real? For those too young to remember, Y2K was the worry that, when the clock struck midnight and the year 2000 started, all the computers would reset and cause a worldwide Web crash.

This technological phenomenon/nightmare is dealt with by our league of heroes: Eli (Jaeden Martell), Laura (Rachel Zegler) and Danny (Julian Dennison), three high school kids: the two boys being lovable losers and Laura being a popular girl. Eli is in love with Laura and they chat frequently on AIM; Laura's username being RoxyGurl.

This type of extreme nostalgia is essential to Y2K. There are countless references to pop culture and society at the turn of the century. Some examples include: killer Tamagotchis, a computer telling the kids to “suck it” (with accompanying hand gestures), the movie Junior (you know, the one where Arnold Schwarzenegger gets pregnant), éS skate shoes, and an understanding of computer hacking akin to the absurd 1995 movie Hackers. This is accompanied by an outrageously nostalgic soundtrack with songs like “Thong Song,” “93 'til Infinity,” “Praise You," and “Closing Time.” If these titles are giving you PTSD flashbacks to your adolescence, then you are the target audience for Y2K.

Outside of the excessive call backs to an if-not-simpler-then-at-least-stranger time, Y2K also provides some hilarious moments and shocking visuals. I especially liked how liberal this movie is with killing people. Once the Y2K apocalypse starts, people start dropping faster than you can say Chumbawamba. The Kid Laroi plays Soccer Chris and he does a decent acting job, until he dies in a way that's surely a reference to Infinite Jest. (A niche reference to this David Foster Wallace novel is, in itself, unbelievably '90s.) Other unfortunate souls are decapitated, get their boners eviscerated in a blender, and take the sharp side of a CD straight to the forehead.

It's important to know that, when it comes to Mooney's form of comedy, corniness is a virtue. Y2K is extremely corny, but that is its charm. No character is more corny than CJ (Daniel Zolghadri). This freestyle-spitting “real” MC takes himself painfully seriously. He doesn't listen to anything on MTV; he only listens to that real real hip-hop. Whether it's his constant asking for “herb” or his numerous freestyles, CJ's soul is as deep as the water at the bottom of a bong.

The greatest comic relief in this movie comes, unsurprisingly, from Mooney's character – Garrett, the drugged-out clerk at the local video store. With ridiculous dreadlocks and even worse mutton chops, Garrett is a type of sage for the teen kids – he gets high with them, protects them, and introduces them to his crazy ideas and friends. Pretty much every word he uttered earned a laugh in the theatre. Even when he didn't talk and just stared with that look of stoned intelligence, he still had the audience rollicking.

Later in the movie, we get Y2K's greatest cameo. After the computers begin their attack, the kids retreat back to the video store. Who should be lurking in the shadows of the Restricted section? None other than Fred Durst, frontman for the uber90s band Limp Bizkit. Despite the fact that he's now in his 50s, the filmmaker does nothing to de-age him. They kids instead refer to the fact that he looks awful (considering, in 1999, he was 29). He's unsure if he can go on, after the robots attacked his New Year's Eve concert, killing all of his fans and members of his band. The kids must encourage him to help them. Ash (Lachlan Watson) gives him an inspirational speech. Referring to Durst's infamous fitted red baseball cap, she says, “This used to mean something.” It's ridiculous, funny and, of course, authentically 90s.

Not all the nostalgia is entirely 90s based. For example, Eli and Danny sitting at home on New Year's Eve feeling like losers while their parents go out and have more fun than them is a pretty universal experience. As is their solution to break into Danny's parents' liquor cabinet and start drinking. As is their faking that the liquor tastes good. After Eli takes an egregious swig from a mickey of vodka, he says, through a squinting face, “so smooth.” However, other moments, like Danny doing tae bo with his mother, are jokes meant only for those that remember VHS workout tapes.

Y2K is not without its faults. Of course, it's supposed to be a fun, lighthearted and purposefully corny movie. But, I can't help but mention that the central love story between Eli and Laura is very by the numbers. If you've ever seen any teen movie ever, then you know the story beats that they hit. Popular girl; nerdy guy. Girl has athletic boyfriend, but relationship is on the fritz. A series of unfortunate events brings the nerd and popular girl closer. They work together to save the day. Against all odds, boy gets girl. This cliché story is meant to give structure to the computer-taking-over-the-world concept, but it's unfortunate that Mooney didn't make it at least somewhat clever.

There is also something oddly lacking in the finale. This is a little less clear. I'm not sure what I expected or how I thought it would go down; maybe I expected the computers to put up more of a final fight. I'll admit that there's an object prevalent throughout the movie that is utilized in a clever way to save the day, and that part I thought was quite original. And Fred Durst singing (slaying) an acoustic rendition of George Michael's “Faith” in front of a Sound of Music backdrop was not on my ever-in-my-life bingo card. I also loved the foul-mouthed computer arch villain. But, still, there was something in the climactic moments of Y2K that left me feeling unsatisfied.

The movie does have some relevance in today's day and age. Today, we worry so much about what artificial intelligence will do to the world: Will it make our work obsolete? Will it make our existence obsolete? These are the same questions people were asking in 1999, even if they had less of a basis for concern than we, maybe, do today. The great plan of the computers in Y2K is to put a chip in everyone's brain, which is not so far away from modern ideas like Neuralink. In a way, Y2K makes light of people's modern-day concerns, reminding us that these problems are not new and that humanity always finds a way to triumph.

It should also be noted that the computer monsters are very cool. They were designed by Weta Workshop, the New Zealand company that designed costumes, armour, sets and more for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. The computer killers, small and massive, are made of TV remotes, camcorders, monitors and other tech, through a clever concept where the gadgets amalgamate to form these digital monstrosities.

In the end, Y2K is a funny and fun journey down memory lane. It's an easy, hour-and-a-half watch, and it never, ever takes itself too seriously. Even when Eli makes his heartfelt speech, nobody in the movie understands what he's talking about. Never does this movie try to push a real message or try to do something that doesn't mesh with its corny, 90s charm. As such, Y2K is actually somewhat refreshing in its simplicity. Of course, many movies are quite simple these days, but Y2K is not boring and it doesn't get bogged down in trying to tell a story that is bigger than itself.

If you remember getting pegged by your homie (back when that meant something completely different), love freestyle raps, and still wear Kostons, then I can't recommend Y2K enough. Mooney and crew have made a movie that 90s kids can show the 2000s kids and say, “See, this is what it was like!”