Close Menu
  • Login
  • Support Us
  • Newsletter
  • News
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Video Games
      • Previews
      • PC
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X/S
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Xbox One
      • PS4
      • Tabletop
    • Film
    • TV
    • Anime
    • Comics
      • BOOM! Studios
      • Dark Horse Comics
      • DC Comics
      • IDW Publishing
      • Image Comics
      • Indie Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • Oni-Lion Forge
      • Valiant Comics
      • Vault Comics
  • Podcast
  • More
    • Event Coverage
    • BWT Recommends
    • RSS Feeds
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Support Us
But Why Tho?
RSS Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube
Trending:
  • Features
    Marvel's Spider-Man Secret Lair promotional image

    Get a Look At the Secret Lair x Marvel’s Spider-Man Superdrop

    09/08/2025
    Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions gameplay still

    Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions Is All About Adventure (with Friends)

    09/08/2025
    Chord in Persona 5 The Phantom X

    Now Is The Perfect Time To Jump Back In ‘Persona 5: The Phantom X’

    09/05/2025
    Cosmic Spider-Man card details

    [EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW] The Spider-Man Set Gets A 5-Color Legendary Spider

    09/02/2025
    Lee Corso from College Football GameDay in EA Sports games

    EA Sports Always Understood Lee Corso’s Legacy

    09/01/2025
  • Indie Games
  • K-Dramas
  • Netflix
  • Apple TV+
But Why Tho?
Home » Film » REVIEW: ‘Y2K’ Is A Feature Length Skit

REVIEW: ‘Y2K’ Is A Feature Length Skit

Kate SánchezBy Kate Sánchez03/10/20244 Mins ReadUpdated:03/28/2024
Y2K Movie
Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit WhatsApp Email

Kyle Mooney‘s directorial debut, Y2K, has the right ‘90s aesthetic. As the name says, Y2K takes place on the last night of 1999 during a New Year’s Eve party. Centered on two nobodies, Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison), the two high school juniors crash a party only to fight for their lives alongside people they’ve never really gotten along with. The movie starts off in the style of Can’t Hardly Wait until it morphs into something completely else entirely in a genre mash-up of comedy, sci-fi, and disaster once Y2K becomes a reality.

Written by Mooney and Evan Winter, the A24 film stars Rachel Zegler, Julian Dennison, Jaeden Martell, Mason Gooding, Eduardo Franco, and Lachlan Watson as a group of survivors of a robot revolution. If you were making memories in 1999, then you remember the scare that was Y2K. It was the belief that because of having 000 computers and technology would fail. Planes would fall from the sky, bombs to go off, and the world would end. There were Nostradamus documentaries on the History Channel, and when the clock struck midnight, nothing happened.

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

In Y2k, something does happen. A pink toy jeep kills some teens, a Tomogatchi drills a hole in someone’s head, and the machines violently revolt in a way that, for the first act, absolutely thrills. The dedication to practical effects sets the film’s robot monstrosities apart. The humor they bring is the best the film has to offer (outside the magnetic Dennison).

When it comes to the plot, there isn’t much there. The characters only exist to deliver jokes and shotgun ‘90s references backed by a ‘90s-burned CD mix. The action is the star. The creative kills do more for the film than any relationship it tries to establish after the first act. This isn’t to say that the actors aren’t doing their best. Martell is infinitely endearing from start to finish with the right amount of awkwardness and competence. He carries the film even if his best friend, played by Dennison, delivers the film’s best musical moment with his rendition of Sisqo’s iconic “Thong Song.”

Since I have memories of Y2K, this movie should hit. Instead, the dialogue, premise, reveals, and twists are all vehicles to jampack as many references into 90 minutes as possible. While Totally Killer embodied its period aesthetic for the late ‘80s, Y2K is a shotgun spray at a wall of what Gen Z thinks the ‘90s were. Instead of embodying the time period, its humor, and its tropes, it’s like drinking from a fire hydrant. When the film tries to go into trashy joke territory, a 2024 sensibility undercuts them. These are most often delivered by Zegler’s Laura.

The start of the third act, the character reveal, and the subsequent need to break stuff is the shining moment of the film’s back half. But even with this musical icon, there isn’t too much to hold onto. The comedy could have been trashier, meaner, and dug into the time period, but instead it all feels empty. Absolutely chaotic, Y2K loses itself by trying to be everything at once and coming out manically muddled in the end.

The cast and its rapid-fire ‘90s references tailor themselves to the TikTok generation. However, the continued forcing of ‘90s humor undercut by 2024 sensibilities makes it completely not for me. The film is more annoying than entertaining. This hour-and-a-half runtime feels like three as Mooney’s SNL writing turns this feature film into one long skit.

When it comes down to it, Y2K will find its movie audience. For the Zoomers and tail-end millennials without concrete memories of the time to hold onto, Y2K is a movie that will capture what they idolize about the time period. It makes fun of it while bumping a fantastic soundtrack and that’s more than enough to win over people—just not me.

Y2K screened as a part of SXSW and is set for distribution by A24.

Y2K
  • 5/10
    Rating - 5/10
5/10

TL;DR

For the Zoomers and tail-end millennials without concrete memories of the time to hold onto, Y2K is a movie that will capture what they idolize about the time period.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
Previous ArticleREVIEW: ‘Babes’ Serves Up Belly Laughs
Next Article REVIEW: ‘Queen Of Tears’ Episodes 1-2
Kate Sánchez
  • Website
  • X (Twitter)
  • Instagram

Kate Sánchez is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of But Why Tho? A Geek Community. There, she coordinates film, television, anime, and manga coverage. Kate is also a freelance journalist writing features on video games, anime, and film. Her focus as a critic is championing animation and international films and television series for inclusion in awards cycles. Find her on Bluesky @ohmymithrandir.bsky.social

Related Posts

The Long Walk (2025) film review promotional image
9.5

REVIEW: ‘The Long Walk’ Is The Most Heartfelt And Heartbreaking Stephen King Adaptation

09/11/2025
Natasha O’Keeffe in Whitetail
6.5

TIFF 2025: ‘Whitetail’ Is An Intimate View Of A Woman Stuck In Time

09/10/2025
Love Brooklyn
6.0

REVIEW: ‘Love, Brooklyn’ Rests on Pretty

09/10/2025
Park Jeong-min in The Ugly
7.0

TIFF 2025: ‘The Ugly’ Is A Harsh Exercise In Self-Reflection

09/09/2025
No Other Choice
9.0

TIFF 2025: ‘No Other Choice’ Delivers a Bleak Vision of Capitalism

09/09/2025
Molly Lewis in Whistle
8.0

TIFF 2025: ‘Whistle’ Is A Breath Of Fresh Air

09/07/2025

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here
TRENDING POSTS
The Long Walk (2025) film review promotional image
9.5
Film

REVIEW: ‘The Long Walk’ Is The Most Heartfelt And Heartbreaking Stephen King Adaptation

By Kate Sánchez09/11/2025Updated:09/11/2025

The Long Walk is a brutal watch. Equally heartfelt and heartbreaking, it’s one of the best adaptations of Stephen King’s work.

Black Women Anime — But Why Tho (9) BWT Recommends

10 Black Women in Anime That Made Me Feel Seen

By LaNeysha Campbell11/11/2023Updated:12/03/2024

Black women are some of anime’s most iconic characters, and that has a big impact on Black anime fans. Here are some of our favorites.

EA Sports FC Icons Match promotional image from Nexon News

2025 Icons Match Returns With Football Legends Bridging The Pitch And Video Games

By Kate Sánchez09/03/2025Updated:09/03/2025

NEXON has announced the return of the ‘2025 Icons Match,’ a live event that brings a full roster of legendary players to the pitch.

Gojo Jujutsu Kaisen - But Why Tho (2) Features

Everything To Know About Satoru Gojo

By Kate Sánchez09/07/2023Updated:02/16/2025

Satoru Gojo is the heart of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 — now, heading into Cour 2, here is everything you need to know about the character.

But Why Tho?
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest RSS YouTube Twitch
  • CONTACT US
  • ABOUT US
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
  • Review Score Guide
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small contribution.
Written Content is Copyright © 2025 But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

But Why Tho Logo

Support Us!

We're able to keep making content thanks to readers like YOU!
Support independent media today with
Click Here