Y2K – Film Review

Official poster for Y2K (A24, 2024).

Film: Y2K
Year: 2024
Director: Kyle Mooney
Studio/Distributor: A24
Starring: Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, Julian Dennison, Fred Durst
Genre: Horror/Comedy
Runtime: 92 minutes
Release: Theatrical + Streaming

Very Light Spoilers

You can almost hear the writer’s room questions that brought Y2K to life – “what if Maximum Overdrive was intentionally funny?” “What if Can’t Hardly Wait became grisly horror?” And “Isn’t your cousin neighbors with Fred Durst, do you think he’d be willing to act?”

At its heart, Y2K matches its protagonist, Eli (Jaeden Martell), in not knowing what it wants beyond getting the girl and making it to the end.  Does it want to be an earnest tale about friendship? Yes. Does it want to retread the nerds vs the homecoming queen narrative? Sure. Does the underdog keep chasing the girl in increasingly ridiculous circumstances? Naturally. Could it stop winking at us for two damned seconds? Absolutely not. 

Y2K wants to be a cult smash –  but cult smashes, even when they’re comedies, play it straight. When Stranger Things trotted out Sean Astin, Bob was a real character. He wasn’t constantly making jokes about his friend, double o negative. There are a few great laughs to be had in Fred Durst being a central character, but the sole gag remains, ‘it’s so crazy that Fred Durst is doing this, right?’

Like the peak Durst moments, there is good fun to be had in sporadic fits: the camaraderie between Eli and Danny (Julian Dennison); the underground rap head bonding with the Slipknot fan; the ludicrous ‘kill’ of Farkas (Eduardo Franco a.k.a. Argyle from Stranger Things and DJ Catnip.)

That being said, the death of Farkas undercuts one of the film’s core strength. In its first half, Y2K excels at lightning fast one-dimensional character sketches. Unfortunately, those characters get mowed down so fast that all we’re left with is the not as exciting 3-D characters.  During the climax when Eli suddenly cares about the fate of his parents, my first thought was, “oh yeah, I forgot he had parents.”

Perhaps the film functions best when it serves as a critique of the 1999 narratives that once felt so important. Limp Bizkit fans vs. nerds vs. ska/swing kids vs. “gangster stoners” – none of it actually mattered, because the real benefit of 1999 was that they were all at the same party, not just the same school. The subtlest, and most enjoyable, nod to this comes in Danny’s impromptu karaoke scene. It’s a clear retread of the Can’t Hardly Wait “Paradise City” moment, but instead of reflecting the safe choice in 1998, it mirrors what kids were actually listening to in 1999: Sisqó’s “Thong Song.” And this isn’t some 2024 retrofitting of today’s social mores, it’s a genuine corrective. Instead of pretending teens were all listening to Sleater-Kinney, the film admits the truth: the soundtrack of the moment was male gaze-y as hell. The only pick more on-the-nose than “Thong Song” would’ve been Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up.” Though the real choice should have been “No Scrubs” – and young dudes weren’t actually so insecure that they wouldn’t sing along to that slice of perfection.

Y2K doesn’t fully succeed because at every step it feels like it’s holding your hand to make sure you understand that this isn’t Maximum Overdrive – they’re INTENTIONALLY making it ridiculous. Ultimately, its good points are so good that I wish the whole package cohered. Verdict: worth a watch, probably not a rewatch, but this crew has got a real cult classic in them somewhere.

Tags: #FilmReview #Horror #Comedy #Y2K #A24 #FredDurst #CultCinema