Y2K
A24 | Release Date: December 6, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
18
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
IndieWireChristian ZilkoMar 11, 2024
Combining the youthful raunchiness of “Superbad,” a detailed nostalgia for the era of video stores and AOL Instant Messenger, this playful sci-fi spectacle splits the difference between early “Stranger Things” and “The Terminator,” with immaculate soundtrack vibes courtesy of Fatboy Slim and Chumbawamba. Read full review
80
IGNMatt DonatoMar 12, 2024
Y2K is a deadly unserious disaster comedy featuring fantastic cyber-monster effects and humor inspired by the time period. Read full review
75
The Film StageJohn FinkMar 11, 2024
Vibrant and often hilarious––with a surprise appearance by Fred Durst, who becomes a spirit guide to help the kids “break stuff” and save humanity––Y2K is far from perfect, but it does try harder than most comedies in its densely accurate portrait of an era of angst awaiting the nightmares of the 9/11 era. Read full review
70
The New York TimesCalum MarshDec 5, 2024
Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison and Rachel Zegler, as the teens tasked with thwarting the apocalypse, make charming heroes — but it’s Mooney himself, as the loquacious stoner Garret, who is the film’s dopey MVP. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineJesse HassengerDec 2, 2024
As ruthless as some of the deaths can be, and tongue-in-cheek as the movie’s heightened reality becomes, Y2K remains affectionate toward its characters; it has a surprising amount of warmth and sweetness for what’s essentially a comedy about teens trying to get laid that pivots to a comedy about teens getting hacked to death by robots. Read full review
70
SlashfilmJacob HallMar 11, 2024
When Mooney is in joke mode, sprinting from gag to gag without room to breathe, Y2K is a great time at the movies: a midnight movie in the truest sense of the word. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 5, 2024
Unfortunately, “Y2K” fizzles out somewhere around the halfway point, in part because the characters aren’t fleshed out much beyond familiar tropes, and the screenplay seems not quite finished. It’s as if the filmmakers ran out of fresh ideas at some point but just plowed ahead anyway. Read full review
60
Little White LiesIona MathiesonMar 21, 2025
It’s not a bad movie, and it lives up to the standards that it sets itself, but it is as throwaway as a killer Tamagotchi. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshDec 6, 2024
The surface pleasures of Y2K are outlandishly fun, but plot-wise, the film is structurally unsound. Read full review
60
ColliderRoss BonaimeDec 3, 2024
Beyond the ‘90s references, Y2K is an underwhelming, but mostly entertaining movie that never quite goes as far as it should with its concept, comedy, or the relationships between its characters. Read full review
60
The GuardianAdrian HortonMar 11, 2024
Mooney and Winter’s horror comedy may be all over the place, and unserious to its own detriment, but at least they commit to the bit. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)A.A. DowdDec 6, 2024
Y2K is audacious in concept but pretty slapdash in execution. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussDec 4, 2024
If you’re a millennial, odds are you’ll find “Y2K” amusing. But older and younger age groups will want to stick to their vinyl LPs and Tik Tok videos. Read full review
50
The Daily Beast Fletcher PetersMar 26, 2024
The film’s dawn of the new millennium references—from AOL dial-up crackles to the “Macarena” dance—are absolutely riotous. But a lack of intriguing characters and failure to follow through on a great concept for a horror story leave Y2K with major software bugs. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineRocco T. ThompsonMar 11, 2024
The big sequence where the year 2000 hits and everything from a toaster to a Tamagotchi goes homicidal is a chaotic blast, but once the film shifts into a broader comic gear, it never quite finds its heart again. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeMar 11, 2024
Mooney eagerly mines the trove of Y2K cultural references to shape a narrative fine-tuned to a particular millennial sensibility, but struggles to meet the very low demands of its internal logic. Read full review
50
VarietyOwen GleibermanMar 11, 2024
It’s not that the two parts of the movie don’t go together. It’s that the last hour of it, the cheeky dystopian alien-tech horror farce, simply isn’t very good. Read full review
45
The Daily BeastNick SchagerDec 5, 2024
An attempt at comedy that’s a genuine disaster. Read full review
42
The Film VerdictAlonso DuraldeDec 6, 2024
And while it’s always commendable when a disaster movie establishes early on that any member of the cast can die at any moment, the film makes a fatal error in killing off the funniest of its teen characters, with only a bunch of earnest Breakfast Clubbers in their place. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubBrianna ZiglerDec 5, 2024
Y2K should mark the beginning of Kyle Mooney’s film auteurism, but his funnier instincts and command of human vulnerability have been replaced by weak jokes, weak characters, and a weak storyline. Read full review
40
EmpireSiddhant AdlakhaMar 18, 2025
Light on laughs, and even lighter on drama, Kyle Mooney’s throwback high-school romcom/tech-horror shifts uneasily between its various modes and tones, but never finds its groove. Read full review
40
LooperAudrey FoxDec 6, 2024
While its nods to the '90s are all painfully accurate, it seems like Mooney was so focused on capturing the essence of Y2K that he forgot that all of this needs to be in the service of a story that's actually engaging. Sorry to all involved, but 91 minutes has never felt so long. Read full review
40
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiMar 25, 2024
The first half is wildly fun, especially as it puts characters in the uncomfortable position of being at a party that goes awry shortly after the countdown. But what starts off as a quirky teen comedy with hints of sci-fi catastrophe turns into a messy romp that loses its intrigue. Read full review
40
TheWrapChase HutchinsonMar 12, 2024
Even at just over 90 minutes, it quickly runs out of steam and can only coast along. Read full review
40
Screen DailyRobert DanielsMar 11, 2024
This is a nostalgia play composed of admittedly funny and gnarly moments that do not string together into a satisfying whole. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 6, 2024
Although there are a few amusing instances when the film goes over-the-top with gore, those don’t save what’s ultimately a bad zombie apocalypse film with the undead replaced by robots. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comClint WorthingtonDec 6, 2024
Y2K doesn't want to break stuff; it wants to dig it out of the trash and pine nostalgically for it. That's just not as interesting. Read full review
33
Original-CinChris KnightDec 4, 2024
It tries to mine humour and a bit of horror from the era but fails to make much of an impact in either genre. Read full review
25
Movie NationRoger MooreDec 7, 2024
It fails on pretty much every level. Read full review
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