Y2K ★★

Released: 21 March 2025

Director: Kyle Mooney

Starring: Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison, Rachel Zegler

If you weren’t conscious during the turn of the millennium, you would be forgiven for only remembering certain aspects of it. The ever-ticking switch from analog to digital, dial-up internet, having to go to a shop to watch the latest home video film releases, or that one Robbie Williams song that goes a lot harder than it has any right to. But it’s a certain aspect of New Years Eve 1999 that Kyle Mooney capitalises on in his directorial debut Y2K. You know, that whole thing where we all thought we were going to die at the hands of a glitch in our eggshell coloured plastic technology? Mooney presents us with an alternate reality where our wildest fears came true, and given the very modern very now problems we’re facing with AI and ever-developing technology it couldn’t be a more perfect topic to tackle. But despite feeling current, Y2K can’t quite escape the fact it’s about as dated as the year it’s set in.

New Years Eve 1999. Best mates Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison) want to see the millennium in with a bang. They usually spend their time inside making models of the sets and characters from That 70s Show and playing video games, but if there’s any time to finally party it’s now. Eli has his eyes set on high school crush Laura (Rachel Zegler) a computer whiz, and Danny has his eyes set on just about anyone. This is where Y2K struggles. At its heart it is a coming-of-age high school comedy, but it is this that makes it entirely indistinguishable from noughties powerhouses like Mean Girls, and Legally Blonde. The central romance between Eli and Laura only treads familiar ground, leaving Y2K feeling stale narratively.

Eli and Danny decide the best way to celebrate is to go to the popular high school footballer’s house party. Whilst Danny seems to fit in amongst the crowd, Eli is shunned to the sidelines not cool enough to partake in a rather silly group rendition of the Thong Song (yes Matthew Morrison you still haunt my nightmares). However as the clock strikes twelve all hell breaks loose as every bit of technology you can think of comes to life to murder all humans with impunity. Y2K’s killer robots engage in an initial frenzied bloodbath that would keep any gory horror film fan on board. But it becomes clear that the robots, which exist through an AI hive mind, want to do more than kill humans, it’s their goal to turn them into slaves. 

Humans vs AI is hardly a new concept in cinema. The idea being a thematic mainstay in Hollywood and beyond, all the way from 2001: A Space Odyssey to a more recent example like Gareth Edwards’ The Creator. But given the current climate, which include conversations around its use in the making of films, and the uptick in people using AI chat models, its urgency as a sandbox for filmmaking narratives can’t be understated. The preceding words seem a little serious in conjunction with a film like Y2K, which completely satirises our relationship with and fears around artificial intelligence, but this is where the film is at its strongest. Of course the important conversations need to happen, but it’s nice to hide from the harsh reality for 90 minutes and just laugh about how stupid it all is.

Y2K’s performances aren’t entirely unmemorable, Jaeden Martell is a competent lead, and Rachel Zegler continues to prove her undeniable talent. Julian Dennison also provides a short but sweet stint. But it’s ironically Mooney himself who provides the funniest turn as his character Garrett. A kumbaya stoner who works at the local video store. It’s the slight moments that garner the loudest laughs, like when he changes his musty Birkenstocks for a pair of equally musty Birkenstocks when he enters the adult section of his shop. 

Y2K might not be a slam dunk, but it’s a testament to Kyle Mooney’s talents as a filmmaker that it at least tries to say something. Imagine it like you’re trying to celebrate at the turn of the millennium but you’re trying to come to terms with a potentially world ending event; it’s a guarantee there was at least one person who said “it’s not that deep bro”. At the end of the day, that is the pinnacle of what Y2K is. A silly film made by an arguably sillier person. A shame then, that it doesn’t live up to the heights of his earlier screenwriting effort Brigsby Bear.