Kyle Mooney never felt quite right on Saturday Night Live. The sketch artist and YouTuber has always brought a nostalgic touch to his comedy and didn’t always fit with the weekly ensemble broadcast. But I would say that Mooney has found his footing since leaving, starting with the 2017 comedy Brigsby Bear that he co-wrote and starred in. A true ’90s kid himself, Mooney gets to indulge in all of the weird, era-specific stuff he loves with Y2K, an uneven but enjoyable apocalyptic sci-fi comedy and love letter to the golden era of teen comedies you might rent from the local video store.
If you’re old enough to remember December 31st 1999, the world was gripped by panic that 2000 would bring about technological chaos. World markets would fail, systems would crash, energy grids would collapse, airplanes would come hurtling out of the sky, all of the worst things. None of that happened, of course, but in the world of Y2K…well, it does. On the night of a major party, of course! It’s such an awesome premise that allows for Mooney, who directed the film and co-wrote it with Evan Winter, to hit us with a variety of callbacks such as Limp Bizkit, AOL IM, slow dial-up modems, afterschool special PSAs, Tae Bo, and those damned Tamagotchis everyone was raving about. All that’s missing is someone flipping Pogs.
Classic teen comedy archetypes are everywhere, but it’s clear Mooney isn’t here to mock them but to show love for the era. Jaeden Martell plays high school nerd Eli, with Julian Dennison as his misfit pal Danny. Now juniors, they’ve spent much of their time talking about the sex they’re not having, and goofing around on the Internet which was still a pretty new thing at the time. Slow download speeds are a real problem when you’re trying to download porn, y’know. Golden Globe winner Rachel Zegler plays Laura, a gifted computer expert who Eli has a serious crush on. But Laura is popular and runs with a rowdy crowd. She’s seemingly out of his league, but the chance for Eli to score some points with her arises with a big New Year’s Eve bash that everyone will be attending.
It’s when the clock strikes midnight that Y2K gets thrown into chaos, in more ways than one. Not only does the electricity shut down, but all technology goes along with it. However, what’s really happening is that they’ve begun to assemble as robots bent on destroying all of humanity. Mooney has fun with the robot designs, meshing various ’90s-era gadgets to build some cool practical baddies. And these things are deadly! Y2K is surprisingly brutal and the blood runs pretty thick throughout, with characters you might not expect failing to survive until the end.
While the shocking violence is appreciated for being unexpected, it also creates a tonal nightmare that Y2K struggles to get beyond. The laughs are frequent but the film never is as funny as it could be, nor is it as chaotic as a global nightmare of this type should be. Deaths that are meant to mean something are constantly overshadowed by others that are played for shits ‘n giggles.
Y2K gets a ton of comedic mileage from its supporting cast who play twists on familiar character types. For instance, Eduardo Franco, who we are accustomed to seeing as a stoner type in The Binge and Stranger Things, plays the most unlikely school bully ever. He has one of the funniest scenes in the film involving a rollerblading trick gone awry, set to the sounds of Limp Bizkit. Speaking of which, Mooney and Winter show they know their way around music of the time, and not just easy tracks like “Tubthumping”, “My Own Worst Enemy”, and “No Scrubs”. As an underground rap head myself, I appreciated Daniel Zolghadri as CJ, a pretentious rap purist who doesn’t like all of that mainstream shit. I was just like CJ back then, and still kind of am that guy! Also, Lachlan Watson as Limp Bizkit fanatic Ash makes for his perfect foil. Can two kids from opposite sides of the musical tracks survive the robot revolution? Along with the Superbad-esque chemistry between Martell and Dennison, plus Fred Durst poking fun at his own reputation, Y2K could get by without the robot overlords taking everything over. Zegler feels a little bit out of place in this group. She’s the only one who seems as if she’s trying to be Laura rather than naturally fitting the role.
While Y2K isn’t quite as riotous as hoped for, it’s a solid launching pad for Mooney as a filmmaker. He’s someone who can take a high-concept premise and turn it into a charming throwback. There’s so much more in this decade left to explore that I have to believe Mooney will pay it another visit, and next time let’s hope he throws all caution to the wind.
A24 releases Y2K in theaters on December 6th.
