Smack-dab in the middle of nu metal's heyday was the Y2K crisis. Computers were allegedly going to malfunction, the global infrastructure was set to crumble, and life as we knew it would be forever ruined. While Prince may have coined the phrase “party like it's 1999,” Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison) are looking to party on New Year's Eve 1999, maybe even getting a New Year's score unlike anything they've ever seen before.
When the clock strikes midnight, technology does indeed go rogue, with a rampage unleashed on the partygoers. It’s up to the boys, as well as Eli's crush and tech wiz Laura (Rachel Zegler), hip-hop hipster CJ (Daniel Zoghadri), Limp Bizkit fanatic Ash (Lachlan Watson), and a cast of outcasts that even picks up the redneck fucker from Jacksonville himself, Fred Durst, to save humanity from the technological armageddon set upon them.
Though this film is distributed by A24, I beg of you: temper your expectations. This isn't going to be a culture-changing thinkpiece that masquerades as elevated horror, whatever the hell that means. This is a celebration of the new touchpoint for nostalgia that is the late Nineties. The first few minutes of the film especially crowbar in references to the time period, because if they're going to poke fun at the turn of the millennium, better overkill than underkill. On the subject of topical gags, the morale boost by way of Chumbawamba's “Tubthumping” is a funny running joke, as is Danny's passionate rendition of Sisqo's “Thong Song.”
As this is a horror-comedy, the kills are going to be the big draw for gorehounds, and they are ridiculous in the best ways. Without giving away major plot points, the weapons include a flying VHS tape, a blender that does not get someone's tender heart put into it, and a skate rail that gives us possibly the funniest death of the film due to its simplicity and poetic nature. Kyle Mooney knows that this film is batshit insane, and the tone is appropriately adjusted as such.
Eli is an unlikely hero, but he feels a little too much like the stereotypical loser teen. Without spoiling anything, another more interesting character is killed off at the top of the second act, and Ash’s arc from skid to second to Fred Durst makes for a more compelling yarn than Eli’s. This isn't the performers’ fault by any means, the acting is about as good as it needs to be. That said, I found myself rooting for Ash more than I did for Eli, and he and Laura are the hero and love interest of the film.
Those going into this film wanting something snappy and wry need not apply. Y2K is meant for those who want to revel in Nineties nostalgia and laugh at sheer ridiculousness along the way. It's about as subtle as a subwoofer, and that's alright. It may be the end of the world as we know it, but this movie helps us feel fine.
