by Nick Nitkowski

It’s a little hard to believe exactly how long ago the 90’s were. As someone who was born in the 90’s, it was a time when the world just made sense. Granted, I was just a kid then. A kid who couldn’t wait to grow up and have the freedom to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted get a high paying job, become a famous artist and get married to a beautiful wife and start a family and all would be right in the world. Oh, poor, naïve little me. Funny enough, I still remember the transition from 1999 to the year 2000. I remember it being a huge and festive celebration going into a new millennium. Of course, I was also still very young, so I wasn’t aware of this Y2K business until way later after the fact. Ignorance is truly bliss. And now we have a new A24 movie greatly embellishing all the things that could have maybe happened on that faithful new year aptly titled “Y2K”.

So, how was this warped trip down memory lane? It was fun for the first half of the movie and then it kind of loses itself along the way. Allow me to explain. The first half of the movie was absolutely hilarious, both intentionally and unintentionally. Turns out a lot of the comedy in this movie stems from Memberberries. “Hey! Remember this? Remember that? Oh, yeah! That was a thing in the 90’s!” And it garnered some of the biggest laughs from the audience I was watching the movie with. Not to say that that’s all the movie has to offer in terms of comedy. It does have some genuinely funny jokes in it that made me laugh out loud.

The story follows two best friends Eli and Danny, played by Jaeden Martell and Julian Dennison, who are social outcasts from every clique. Wanting to break away from their brands as losers, they decide to go to a New Years Eve party so that they can become cool and so that Eli can hopefully get to talk to his dream girl Laura, played by Rachel Zegler. But at the stroke of midnight, the machines become sentient and start wreaking havoc against humanity. Now it’s up to this band of misfit survivors to stand together and hopefully save the day before it’s too late.

I really was on board with this movie for the longest portion of the runtime. Even after the moment when the Surge hit the fan for the characters. But somewhere after that, the movie just kind of loses its footing. From the start of the movie, it was just nonstop laughter from the audience. But then I realized past the halfway point, the laughter and the jokes just kind of stopped. There was a very noticeable silence in the room. They even introduce a characterized version of an existing celebrity played by that actual celebrity to become part of the story and that person’s introduction was met with zero applause and zero laughter. I’m talking crickets. Nothing. Which made me think, “Why did they include this person in the story?” A cameo appearance would have probably been better. It would have fallen flat, but it would have been better. If you want to know who it is you can IMDb it, or just watch the movie.

And as I mentioned earlier, this movie is chock full of 90’s nostalgia. From pagers, to Tamagotchis. From video stores, to Nintendo ‘64’s. All the way down to the song choices. The movie does its best to replicate that 90’s feel, even if that means the constant use of Memberberries. Then again, the 90’s were pretty much that much in your face from what I can remember, so I guess it’s just accurate. The only thing missing to really authenticate it was the constant use of the F slur for gay people. Keep in mind that I absolutely do not condone the use of that word, but that is exactly what kids, especially punk kids trying to be edgy and cool, would call each other as an insult. The movie “Mid 90’s” directed by Jonah Hill, who also happens to be a producer on this film, didn’t shy away from that fact and thus accurately depicted the youth of that era. We’ve come a long way since then. Now the youth of today is fixated on their phones and going viral on the internet no matter what.

Overall, the movie “Y2K” was okay. It had the potential to be a lot better than what it ended up being, but it unfortunately lost its way somewhere in the middle of the film. It still had a lot of funny moments and a lot of nostalgia for us 90’s kids to remember fondly. If you had plans to see it, I don’t think it will disappoint you, but at the same time, I don’t foresee this movie making it onto anyone’s top movies of the year list. But if you’re just looking for a reason Y you should go 2 the movies this weekend, this one is an o.K. choice. There are plenty of worse choices to choose from. This one wouldn’t be the end of the world.

3 stars