‘Y2K’ Wants to Party Like It’s 1999

It’s New Year’s Eve, 1999. High schoolers Eli and Danny arrive at a Y2K house party to celebrate the coming year and up their social statuses. All goes well until the clock strikes midnight, when household machines pick off partygoers one by one.

Co-written and directed by Kyle Mooney, “Y2K” follows a group of teenage outcasts surviving an impending internet apocalypse. Influenced by the 1999 panic about computers ceasing to function after the turn of the millenia, the film depicts an alternate world where Y2K comes disastrously true and leads sentient machines to take over the world.

Mooney spoke with The Phoenix as part of a roundtable interview about the film’s visual inspirations.

“We were very excited about making a movie that we would’ve seen in the theaters in 1999,” Mooney said. “That was an interesting time because there was CG but there was also still remnants of practical effects.”

In both direction and dialogue, Mooney (“Brigsby Bear,” “Saturday Night Live”) delivers his hallmark sense of spaced-out humor. Characters crack jokes at each other’s expense, and the uprising machines take the form of rebellious children’s toys and kitchen appliances.

As his feature-length directorial debut, Mooney emphasizes editing and camera movement to elevate the comedy. Gradual pans over a character’s shoulder and quick-cuts to an outlandish death highlight the absurdity of murderous, unassuming technology.

Reminiscent of early 2000’s comedies “Superbad” or “Freaks and Geeks,” much of the humor in “Y2K” stems from the cast’s insecurities and cringe-inducing awkwardness.

Jaeden Martell leads the angst-ridden cast as blundering computer geek Eli. A social pariah, Eli discovers his own confidence when killer robots force him to fight for himself. Martell (“It,” “Knives Out”) lends a soft-spoken charisma to awkward delivery, allowing endearment to shine through introversion.

Eli’s crush and resident popular girl, Laura, is played wittily by Rachel Zegler. Zegler (“West Side Story,” “The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes”) gives the coding expert, prom queen an added agency in her intelligent independence.

Sprinkled in the ensemble cast are comedic performances playing to coming-of-age tropes and ‘90s stereotypes. Mother’s boy Danny (Julian Dennison) combats the rising machines with dance-cardio aerobics. Punk student Ash (Lachlan Watson) uses their love of rap-rock band Limp Bizkit to motivate their rebellious drive.

Mooney joins in on the bit as video store clerk Garrett. As an adult who weirdly hangs out with high schoolers, Garrett fuels himself with cannabis to attack the machines with the baton game devil sticks.

While the stoner-infused jokes may be repetitive for some, the killer robots rarely fail to impress. “Y2K” expertly crafts its antagonists with practical effects rooted in believability. 

“I’m not the best person to talk about why practical effects rules, but there’s obviously something very tangible to it,” Mooney said. “The fact that our actors could actually respond to a robot in the same space with them is incredibly awesome, and you can feel it when you’re watching.”

The combination of old-school animatronics with modern effects is what most separates “Y2K” from typical disaster-comedies. 

Mooney said he and the film’s co-writer Evan Winter took cues from the 1998 film “Toy Soldiers,” as they collaborated with “The Lord of the Rings” effects company Wētā to bring the killer robots to life.

Mirroring the ‘90s aesthetic of grunge clothing and futuristic tech, the robots contradict themselves in appearances. A flamethrowing Barbie car, CD-hurling Tickle-Me-Elmo and machine behemoth headed by a dial-up computer comprise the creatures of “Y2K.”

Enticing as the monsters may be, they’re spread thin after the inciting New Year’s spree. Potentially a victim of limited budgeting, trite discussions taking place in the woods fill the runtime between entertaining kills.

“Y2K” loses steam after its first 30 minutes. Playing on tropes of nerds gaining confidence and popular students finding humility, the film mostly spins its gears until an inane, small-scale climax.

In the absence of its compelling killer robots, “Y2K” smells of a rejected “Saturday Night Live” skit stretched to reach 90 minutes.

Despite its flaws, there’s little denying the passion on screen. From the machines’ visible craft to the chemistry between cast members — regardless of dialogue quality — “Y2K” is a throwback to comedy’s past.

“Y2K,” rated R, is in theaters now.