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Y2K reminds us, with its AOL pastiche/homage, that the internet came only in the speed of “very slow”, back in 1999. I had the same with Demon Internet.
I also had problems around that time with technology, notably Windis32, which didn’t crash on New Year’s Day 2000, but ground to a halt the following day, as it based its information for scouring the usenet newsgroups upon the previous day, as that’s when it last checked for anything. Hence, when January 1st came along, it was still thinking ‘1999’.
On Jan 2nd, it didn’t understand ‘2000’ and wouldn’t move any further… but someone came up with a fix within hours.
About the daily downloading aspect, and okay, so I could’ve retrieved the latest usenet data at any time, but there wasn’t really enough to make it worth your while doing so, unless you waited 24 hours, especially since you were paying per minute on dial-up.
Throwing in some musical nods to the past with Fatboy Slim’s Praise You, and Korn’s Freak on a Leash, a Nintendo 64 console, from 1997, is also seen being used, and still making me wonder when we’re getting a N64 Mini!
Plus, people are still using VHS, not DVD. Okay, so they were only released in the US in 1998, and then to the UK the following year, so maybe I’ll let them off with that, although when Danny (Julian Dennison – Godzilla Vs Kong) is seen buying, and watching Arnie’s Junior on VHS, I wasn’t sure why he’s so set on checking out a movie from 1994, but even still, I fell asleep in the cinema trying to see that!
For want of a plot, Danny and Eli (Jaeden Martell– Arcadian) are the nerds in their school, no-one knows they exist, yet the latter thinks he can score with Snow White, come midnight… okay, it’s Rachel Zegler, but at the time of writing this review, I’ve still to put my thoughts together for that one, and once I do, I’ll link it in.
As Laura, she’s the popular girl of the school, as opposed to the unpopular Disney princess.
But once time passes over to the next day, all technology goes mad, in occasionally gory ways, but usually daft ones, such as one girl being drilled in the head by an errant Tamagotchi.
As such, since no-one trusts tech any more, they start destroying it, and I think I even saw a Sega Saturn smashed to bits! NOOOOOOOO!!!!
Y2K should really be a 15-certificate, since that’s about where the gore content lies, but it’s an 18-cert, because for no apparent reason, a few seconds of an adult movie are spliced in.
Talking of “for no apparent reason”, Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst appears as himself to get in on the action, ut sadly, this film could – and should – really have been so much better. The trailer made it look like we’d get scores of murders by tech going dolally. But that only really takes place in the house at the New Year’s Eve party. Once all the kids leave that in a bid to escape, the whole film starts to fall flat.
For reasons I forget, Durst ends up singing a cover of George Michael’s Faith, with emo/tomboy Ash (Lachlan Watson) on guitar. She likes him, but as good as some of his band’s tracks are, this scene feels rather out of place, goes on forever, and exhibits less enthusiasm than karaoke in a local pub.
But then since the group of kids leave the party early on – given the alternative is certain death – what writer/director Kyle Mooney throws in as ‘terror tech’ just doesn’t work. A better option for entertainment is his movie, Brigsby Bear, starring Mark Hamill.
As an aside, I can still remember how I ended up spending that New Year’s Eve. I was seeing someone who was very religious, ended up at her house, and her family wanted to spend the night at the local church, where they had a live broadcast coming to a TV, which included Cliff Richard singing Millennium Prayer. When I went to get some fresh air, I *very nearly* just walked back to her house, and to my car and to drive home, it was that bad. However, I know I’d never hear the end of it, so I stayed the course. The things we do for love, eh?
NOTE: There is also a mid- and post-credits scene/moment. See the video below.
Y2K is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 92 minutes
Release date: March 21st 2025
Studio: A24
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Rating: 4/10
Director: Kyle Mooney
Producers: Matt Dines, Alison Goodwin, Jonah Hill, Christopher Storer, Cooper Wehde, Evan Winter
Screenplay: Kyle Mooney, Evan Winter
Music: Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans
Cast:
Eli: Jaeden Martell
Laura: Rachel Zegler
Danny: Julian Dennison
CJ: Daniel Zolghadri
Ash: Lachlan Watson
Fred Durst: Fred Durst
Garret: Kyle Mooney
Farkas: Eduardo Franco
Jonas: Mason Gooding
Soccer Chris: The Kid Laroi
Raleigh: Lauren Balone
Robin: Alicia Silverstone
Howard: Tim Heidecker
Cheryl: Maureen Sebastian
Nugz: Miles Robbins
Madison: Ellie Ricker
Trevor: Jacob Moskovitz
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.