Y2K - O Bug do Milênio

Trailer looked awesome, but trailer makers know what they are doing! They sold it!

The filmmakers, failed. On every level.

This is such a bad film, I had to review. I've only come on here 4 or 5 times to review a film over 20+ years and review when a film is so bad, it deserves no recognition or success. It's just horrific.

No redeeming features at all. Terrible acting, terrible set pieces, poor direction and writing, and a woful silly story that could have been ace, had it been executed correctly. Kills were quick and also pointless, deaths not scary or gory, and so so painfully unfunny.

Also, Fred Durst. It's a no from me. Unsure who this is aimed at, but it's not anyone from 1970-2010.

Trash.

This starts strong with its Y2K apocalypse party montage, but once that initial chaos settles, it's like watching a video freeze halfway through loading. By the end, i wondered, "am I supposed to be laughing, scared, or deeply invested in these cardboard cutouts?" I'm still not sure what tone they were going for...

The direction feels like they filmed half the scenes on a Tuesday and the other half months later, then tried to glue it all together with bad ADR. The high school drama is so shallow it makes Degrassi look like Breaking Bad. And the horror? Yeah.... It's a no for me. CGI blood everywhere, practical effects nowhere, and the little makeup they did bother with was giving Spirit Halloween clearance rack.

The comedy doesn't help much either. Most jokes are either so niche I felt like I needed a late-90s pop culture PhD or just plain bad. I laughed a few times, but not usually with the movie-definitely at it. And every time it tried to get serious it flopped. It's like the movie said, "Let's give them whiplash" and went full Don't Look Up tonal chaos, minus the preachy metaphors.

To be fair, there are worse sc-fi horror movies out this year (AfrAId, anyone? Just me?), and worse comedies, too. But Y2K is just there. It's not a full meltdown like reviews may have you believe-it's more like a frozen screen and the mouse is stuck spinning. Fun to think about, frustrating to sit through.

This is one I was looking forward to for a while and I had reasonable expectations for it. However what it ultimately became was kind of forgettable.

Pros.

The humor can really be on point here and there and there is a really good chemistry between the two leads. The best friend dynamic was really on point, with some Super Bad vibes. The aesthetic was also on point, as someone who was in high school during this period, they nailed it. There was some good side characters that really helped pull the weight of the film. Also some death scenes were funny.

Cons.

The story seemed so good at the beginning, it really set up the characters and world nicely but if you were expecting the fun times that the trailer teased, you will be disappointed. After the initial shock of Y2K begins, it really comes undone. There is a main character that dies and it just didn't feel warranted, at least not yet. Then another death of a main side character happens almost immediately afterwards for comic effect and its really funny but doesn't work overall because of the previous death needed more time to sink in, or not happen at all. So two of the funniest characters are dead in like 30 mins... Not a good sign of things to come.

Then the characters just roam around with some side characters that were not the focus before but move into the spot light and it distracts from the main characters plight. Speaking of, he is just so bland and uninteresting that I couldn't care about him or his Crush(Laura) who also was bland, and they try so hard to make us like her but I couldn't.

Combine this with a wasted cameo towards the end and a blah ending and this movie absolutely falls apart and wishing it made good with what the movie the trailer promised. Also the acting is very hit or miss.

Overall, it's pretty forgettable but maybe it can be revisited for nostalgia, much like the movie. So meta.

5/10.

I was 26 when the year 2000 rolled around. Being back there as nostalgic for me. The story was crazy in a way but not anymore than any other hacker/computer story ever. I don't know if people are expecting Avenger quality movies all the time but this movie was enjoyable and fun. I did not expect it too be a classic so I just had fun with it.

Three was not much time to build long and complicated back stories for each character so it was difficult too get to attached to them but I surely cared about the 3 main characters, Eli, Laura and Danny

I can't help but think that this movie was a victim of the Snow White (Rachel Zegler) backlash.

"Y2K" has to be one of the strangest films A24 has released. A nostalgia-filled comedy following a group of teenagers navigating a 1999 where the bug was real and created a post-apocalyptic world doesn't exactly scream "made by A24." That very real paranoia train missed me, so I can't relate. I went in open-minded, hoping for something crazy. After seeing it, it's utterly ridiculous, but it oddly works!

To start the positives, all the actors delivered solid performances, especially Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison, and Rachel Zegler as Eli, Danny, and Laura, respectively. They all have charisma and pleasant comedic timing, and I wound up caring to see if Eli would get together with Laura.

I also feel that Kyle Mooney did great work for his directorial debut. I've seen a few of his films, but I completely forgot that he was the writer and star in "Brigsby Bear." I have a tremendous amount of respect for that film and believe it single-handedly got me into art-house movies. Mooney understands how to make comedy bits land while sprinkling dramatic and horror moments here.

Speaking of comedy, it's not the best in the genre, but many jokes had me laughing. One has to do a Sisqó song and not to discredit the rest of the experience, but that was the best part of the entire film. Unfortunately, the rest of the comedy is hit-or-miss, but it's hilarious when the electronics come to life and begin their murderous rampage!

Finally, the film runs at 1 hour and 30 minutes. Though there are negatives that I'll get to in a second, the runtime is not one of them. It's never tedious, and I was always curious about what insane things the film would do next.

I'm surprised with how much good is in the film, but sadly, a few things were holding it back from being a classic. However, it does have a high chance of being a cult classic.

The first semi-negative, perhaps the most obvious problem, is that the movie feels like it came out in 1999. Sometimes, it works, but numerous references went over my head, left me confused, or felt dated. Those who lived through Y2K will likely understand them more than a general moviegoer today. In addition, while I wanted Eli and Laura to get together, the narrative has cliches. I won't go into detail to avoid spoilers, but it did feel like the film wanted to emulate one that came out in 1999. I've seen a handful of movies released from that year, and "Y2K" is easily comparable to those films, for better or worse.

Remember when I said the comedy was inconsistent? Indeed, many jokes didn't land, I couldn't understand or were hilariously bad. For that last part, and I'll be vague, a character knows that the world is falling apart but decides to do something idiotic. The decision's harmless with the right expertise, but a miscalculation leads to the character's death. This character didn't need technology to go, only stupidity. I was baffled and couldn't help but burst out laughing. It was an avoidable death. The deaths leading up to this moment were all technology's fault! You'll know which scene I'm talking about when you see the movie!

Overall, "Y2K" is one of the year's most ridiculous yet charming films. It won't be for everyone, as it never takes itself seriously. You'll likely have a good time if you go in with those expectations!

Technically, the performances, Kyle Mooney's directing, and the impressive practical effects make the technical score an 8/10.

For the enjoyment score, I found it fun, but you need to go in with the right expectations. Expect a highly unrealistic, bordering on screwball, yet always entertaining time that never cares about logic. On those fronts, the enjoyment score is a 7/10. It's an amusing ride under the right circumstances, and I'm excited to see what Mooney does next!