Y2K – An Eve of Comedic Chaos (Early Review)

After starting to pivot from Saturday Night Live with successful writing efforts in Brigsby Bear and Netflix’s Saturday Morning All Star Hits!, Kyle Mooney makes his directorial debut with Y2K. Mixing both comedy and horror, set in 1999, the film showcases an alternate timeline where all technology rises up against humanity as the clock hits midnight to a new millennium. Eli (Martell) and Danny (Dennison) crash a high school party on New Year’s Eve with the hopes that Eli could make a move on his crush, Laura (Zegler), leading to the countdown to bring in the new year.

With SNL’s lasting power continuing to dwell and the number of prospective careers diminishing, Mooney demonstrates through his aforementioned writing efforts that he is one of few modern SNL cast members left who are trying to divert from that comedy style without relying on shock value. His writing concentrates on somber and surreal elements of comedy, adding in signature cringe moments and earnestness along the way. Critical success results in a more digestible and accessible mixture of this formula, with Y2K incorporating a more linear story as these high-schoolers interact with the absurdist situations that Mooney puts in front of them, consisting of killer machines and teaming with Fred Durst, the frontman of Limp Bizkit.

Making a film about subject matter long past its relevance is poetic, as Martell and Dennison are incorporated in the late stages of their childhood successes, occupying a purgatory in their careers similar to these characters navigating the infamous Y2K bug. The phenomenon itself can be treated as a purgatory state between this nostalgia boom that audiences admire about media reliving the 70s/80s, and the modern age of elaborate technology and social media. The phenomenon is too early to be considered modern but not old enough to fondly look back on. Mooney seems to understand this and focuses on the proper references of the time period, including music and computer, to align with the interests of these characters and build his absurdist humor around these elements.

Both actors adequately play into the kind of roles that they have played previously, with Martell embodying the shy, neurotic outsider and Dennison embodying the crude, wisecracking sidekick. Zegler, meanwhile, draws parallels from her prominence in recent media. Mooney’s writing subverts high school and horror film clichés, as Laura is a tech-savvy hacker who blends as a social butterfly with many of the high school cliques portrayed in the film and many of the predictable deaths in the friend group are shuffled in expectations, leaving viewers to comedically ponder who is going to get the axe next.

Predictably, Mooney can be found performing in his own film as a character typically seen in his SNL sketches, a simple comic relief for the focus of these high schoolers and serving as a comforting presence for those unfamiliar with his distinct style. His previous creative efforts make it clear that he has solid potential to reach the levels of Tim Robinson or Nathan Fielder. Though instead of exhibiting this tonal mesh in his usual subdued manner, Mooney commits to depicting this teen comedy before instantly flipping the switch the second the clock hits midnight, propelling the horror and gore to release across the organized chaos audiences would expect from technology deciding to turn on humans. This chaos is where certain jokes start to fall flat but in spite of this, still deliver chuckles, as Mooney never breaks away from the effort in the midst of the coordinated movement in tone.

In the end, Y2K is Mooney’s shift to a more accessible and digestible version of his distinct comedy style following his SNL run. While somewhat derivative in delivery compared to his previous writing efforts, his attempt at offering up an alternative timeline stemming from the Y2K phenomenon is a comforting fit as he seamlessly blends teen comedy within a horror environment that is never overbearing either way. Utilizing a mix of cringe and surreal comedy, Mooney powers through in swinging for honest chuckles even if not all of it hits.

still courtesy of VVS Films

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Costa Christoulas

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