‘Y2K’ is a Film Worse than Dial-Up Internet

Y2k

★

‘Y2K’ starts off with a very hip 90s indie comedy vibe that fades away quickly, morphing into dull, boring cinematic slop. The film spends so much time introducing us to the characters, it’s reminiscent of a limp, awkward handshake that goes on much longer than it should. This might be something to overlook if there were anything remotely interesting about these characters. There isn’t.

To fill in the cracks in the plot, and lack of character development, the writers threw every possible 1990s cliché into the script. The gimmicks are so obvious they detract from any semblance of story.

Danny livens up the party
© 2024 A2

For those unfamiliar with the Y2K scare, this was a legitimate concern as we approached the end of the 20th century, heading into the new millennium. Most computing systems operated with a six-digit date system – two for the month, two for the day and two for the year. That was a problem, because the two-digit system left out the “19.” People worried that computers would not recognize the “00” as the new millennium. Instead of 2000, they might read 1900. Because of this, technology might cease to operate properly, if not altogether!

This film ignores all of that, and interprets the Y2K bug as a virus that makes anything with a processing chip self aware. Appliances and devices somehow connect their wires together and turn themselves into monstrous frankenstein-like tech monsters with small appliances as arms and legs and PC monitors for heads. They see humans as threats, and either kill them or attach microprocessors to their heads to control them.

Jaeden Martell as Eli and Rachel Zegler as Laura
© 2024 A2

Our main characters are high schoolers Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison) who are trying to, at minimum, have a first kiss with a girl at a New Year’s party after the countdown. Eli pines for Laura (Rachel Zegler), the popular girl, supposedly out of his league and Danny is after whomever.

The film lingers a long time on Eli and Danny debating whether to go to the party, if Eli has a shot at Laura, and if either of them will ever get to use the prophylactic Danny has had in his wallet for who-knows-how-long.

Jaeden Martell as Eli Rachel Zegler as Laura and Julian Dennison as Danny
© 2024 A2

When the countdown concludes, appliances and household electronics attack and murder most of the kids at the New Year’s party.

The acting, and character development, is so dry it makes the Griswold Christmas turkey look tender and juicy.

I found very little to like in this film. Sometimes a dumb film can be fun, but that’s not the case here.

Y2k is similar to dial-up internet where an image would slowly and painfully appear line-by-line on screen. In this case, the image barely loads halfway through before it’s time to just hit the home button.

Holiday, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Horror