Y2K (2024) - Review: Death by Dial-Up

 

Despite its fairly plain title, “Y2K” is in fact not a documentary about the 1999-2000 millennia computer bug, nor is it a serious drama about the people behind the issue or those who fixed it. Instead, this is a low-budget horror comedy film directed by Kyle Mooney (“Brigsby Bear,” “Saturday Morning All Star Hits!”) in his directorial debut and written by Mooney and Evan Winter about a robot and technological uprising brought about by the bug on New Year’s Eve of 1999. Which, given Mooney’s typical work on “SNL,” isn’t a difficult concept to see him executing. 

Set on New Year’s Eve in 1999 and follows Eli, played by Jaeden Martell (“Midnight Special,” “IT (2017)”), and Danny, played by Julian Dennison (“Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” “Deadpool 2”), two best outcast best friends who spend their days playing Nintendo 64 games and renting VHS tapes from stoner video store employee Garrett, played by Mooney. However, the two decide to spend their New Year’s Eve going to a party where Eli’s crush Laura, played by Rachel Zegler (“West Side Story (2021),” “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”), will be alongside fellow outcasts such as Farkas, played by Eduardo Franco (“Stranger Things,” “American Vandal”), and Ash, played by Lachlan Watson (“Chucky (2021),” “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”). However, everything turns to chaos at midnight when anything electronic begins to revolt, killing any humans nearby and forcing out motley crew to run for their lives. 

Mooney and Winter’s script is certainly loaded with various 90s references and pop culture touchstones. Everything from AIM to Mystery Men to even the act of waiting for a porn image to load via dialup gets its little moment to shine, but much of that window dressing is exactly that: window dressing. Remove the specific references and the film could be set in any time period, which ends up being a major disappointment given the clear love Mooney and Winter have for this time period. The script is also a wild minefield of tonal disparities; one moment will be extremely serious with the death of a character, played completely straight, that’s either punctuated with a bizarrely off-color joke or immediately followed by a moment that completely deflates any emotion or tension. 

It would be one thing if the entire film was clearly meant to be a joke, but Mooney’s direction and handling of that tone never feels jokey. His skits and digital shorts from SNL manage to keep a very brisk tone, but everything is so earnest and self-serious here, it feels remarkably dissonant from the film’s sense of humor. It isn’t a drag by any means, and it's still an enjoyable experience, but it is absolutely the work of someone’s first directorial effort. When the film focuses on young Eli’s journey and his romance with Laura, it’s at its best. Their banter is cute and feels authentic to their ages and the type of borderline puppy love on display. 

The young cast all turn in some pretty entertaining work given the material. Martell plays the archetypal nerdy hero well, Dennison embodies the loudmouthed best friend, Zegler is better than her “hot-girl-who's-also-smart" role has any right to be, and Watson steals plenty of scenes as an honest and earnest wannabe videographer burnout kid. Even Mooney himself manages to delight in a minor but still very amusing role as the video store employee Garrett. They all do fine jobs with the material, but none of the characters or performances ever manage to break out of their cliches. It’s a film where the cast is clearly capable of better and there’s a version of this film that manages to be more emotionally fulfilling, and instead it takes the easy way out. 

There’s nothing wrong with a film like this deciding to just be a simple, b-grade horror comedy. It executes those aspects well, with some gory kills, a great soundtrack, and an exceptionally good usage of practical and creature effects. The third act is a smorgasbord of great editing and practical effects usage, and it's the closest to the weird sense of humor and scale that Mooney has showcased in his “SNL” works. But for as much love as Mooney clearly has for the time period, it is disappointing that he’s settled for a film that wears it like a costume instead of fully embracing it. 

A few moments throughout “Y2K” are shown briefly shot with Ash’s handheld video camcorder and it isn’t hard to see a version of this film shot entirely with that perspective. It would give the film more personality than it currently has, because despite the great practical effects work, the love for the time period, a game cast, and a great third act, Kyle Mooney’s directorial debut feels mostly like a standard B-movie horror comedy wearing the skin of a 90s flick. Given the energy and obvious love that’s clearly here, it’s not hard to imagine a version of this that tries a little bit harder and works just a little bit better. 3/5