When it comes to alt-history horror-comedies that highlight the best and worst things about living in 1999, no movie released in 2024 (or any other year) excels more than Kyle Mooney’s throwback romp Y2K. Beyond Alicia Silverstone, Tim Heidecker and Fred Durst, the film’s cast members were either birthed just prior to the Y2K phenomenon,, or in the years that followed. Born in 2003, Jaeden Martell perhaps unsurprisingly wasn’t familiar with every single ‘90s reference on display, and the actor told CinemaBlend one of his biggest blindspots.
Our own Sarah El-Mahmoud spoke with director and co-writer Kyle Mooney along with stars Jaeden Martell and Julian Dennison about Y2K’s gnarly port-a-potty scene and more of the film’s wacky moments, and she asked about any of the ‘90s jokes and references that were beyond the cast’s recognition, and Martell admitted to not knowing who a key figure in entertainment censorship and U.S. political families was. As he put it:
I didn't know what Tipper Gore was. Yeah, I didn't know what it was. Yeah, that shows…
The fact that Martell said "what Tipper Gore is" instead of "who" is perhaps a sign that he's still not necessarily clued in about her impact on mass media, or that she's even a human being? I kid, of course, since I can certainly understand why someone who came of age in the era of uncensored Internet and streaming platforms wouldn't be hyped up about keeping tabs on those who wanted to morally sanitize the entertainment industry.
To that end, Kyle Mooney interjected and pointed out how that particular reference definitely pre-dated the specific 1999 time period, which would possibly have saved Martell from grief, if not for the fact that Tipper Gore was relevant for far longer than a lot of the fads referenced. As Mooney put it:
I feel like that's arguably more of an '80s reference because she was really big in putting what ultimately became the parental advisory sticker that went over CDs. She kind of was not into obscenity in music. She started that. She kind of started the ball rolling. But Al Gore was a presidential candidate. We can talk about it later.
Mooney is just as dryly hilarious in real life as his characters are zanily hilarious on the screen. I'd watch an entire movie about Tipper Gore if he was the one behind it (with Y2K co-writer Evan Winter also welcome to pitch into this hypothetical mess). Thankfully, he doesn't sound like he'll be hopping right on that...unless that's what he meant by "talk about it later." No, that's just dumb.
Unfortunately, Y2K didn’t exactly crush at the box office in its first weekend. Not that a hyper-niche movie like this would be expected to top a high-profile sequel like Moana 2, but this is the kind of middle-budget comedy movie that isn't being made enough these days. And we don't have Tipper Gore to blame for it at this point.
Y2K is currently playing in theaters now, so grab your favorite Mudvayne shirt and wallet chain and get over there ASAP. While waiting for the previews to start, check out all the other upcoming A24 movies that’ll weird audiences out soon.
