SNL alumni Kyle Mooney's directorial takes place on New Year's Eve 1999. In this alternate reality, Y2K wasn't fixed in time and electronical devices start attacking and killing people. The movie follows unpopular teen Eli (played by It's Jaeden Martell) as he tries to survive the night.
The movie is fairly funny, has some surprisingly well-written character progression with a couple supporting characters, and a couple of moments that really take you by surprise. This was clearly made on the cheap, but the mostly practical electronics effects look good.
The first half is really well-paced and moves quickly. However, the plot slows down for the second half, and a few of the dialogue exchanges really feel like they could've been cut down and cause you to lose your enthusiasm a little.
Eli's goal of landing the popular girl is a pretty basic high school comedy storyline that we've all seen before. I honestly wished they'd gone with another scenario for this premise.
The best performances in this are the supporting players. Mooney plays a druggie DVD rental clerk, and he's good with making fun of laid back 2000's-personalities. Hunt for the Wilderpeople's Julian Dennison as Eli's best friend brings the same loud personality he's known for being good at. Yeah, it's nothing new, but he still has one of the best scenes in the movie. The actors who took me most by surprise are Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's Lachlan Watson and Tales from the Loop's Daniel Zolghadri as a couple of rap enthusiasts with differing philosophies (mainstream vs. non-commercial).
Not particularly recommended one way or another. Some will have genuine fun while others may be bored with the second half or Mooney's over-reliance on references to the 2000's rap/rock scene.
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