There’s nothing more embarrassing than bad comedy. A horror which fails to scare its audience may at least result in a mocking enjoyment of its attempts at gravitas (see “Wish Upon.”) The same goes for drama (“The Room”), action (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”), romance (“Gigli”) – if you can name a genre, there’s probably an internet subculture formed around a love for the misfits of the group.

But comedy? Not the same. Have you ever seen someone you love, someone you know is kind and talented, someone who has held you through the worst of times, completely bomb at an open mic? It creates a strange mix of sympathy and revulsion that’s unique to watching someone so desperate to be liked get rejected entirely.

“Y2K” falls into the unenviable position of being a boring comedy. Not absurd enough to inspire humiliation nor grounded enough to be actually humorous, the film is a trudge through the end of the millennium that lights up only when the blue-tinted screens of its genuinely impressive robot effects grace the frame.

The film follows Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison), two dorky high school sophomores on New Year’s Eve 1999. Eli, eager to win over his crush Laura (Rachel Zegler), and Danny, desperate to finish off the century with a bang, sneak into a party only for the fated Y2K bug to trigger, leading to a robot uprising which leaves the world in turmoil. The trio, along with a gang of misfits, must survive the night and try to reverse the technological apocalypse that threatens to delete humanity off the face of the Earth.

Budgeted at around $15 million, it’s Mooney’s biggest undertaking by far. It appears he found that process daunting; in multiple Q&As hosted over the film’s press tour, he’s stated that they ran out of money for a few of the ideas that they had initially planned.

Unfortunately, you can tell. While WETA Workshop’s effects (a visual effects house known for works like “The Lord of the Rings” & “Avatar”) give a real weight to the Cronenberg monsters made from various pieces of period technology like Tamagotchis and CD drives, the scale at which they’re utilized feel small. Any real sense of danger is kneecapped when you feel like the actors are afraid to push back too hard against their captors lest they break the suit they’re wearing.

That lethargy isn’t helped by the crowded script. Every character is battling for the spotlight, with potentially important character moments undercut by an overreliance on references to 90s pop culture. As the youngest person in an audience of mostly Gen Xers, the room was not responsive to the slew of callbacks to Pokemon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and nu-metal (aside from a cameo in the third act that did make me chuckle). Name recognition does not equate to real humor.

Mooney’s character works the best because of his absurd performance as a perennially stoned new-age hippie disconnected from the horrors around him, but every other actor seems confused on what they’re aiming for. Naturally gifted performers like Tim Heidecker, Eduardo Franco and Alicia Silverstone are totally lost in a script that treats them like items on a checklist. Dennison gets the closest out of the core cast, utilizing his natural charisma to work some magic into an underwritten character, but in a baffling decision is relegated to a background role for Martell’s development.

Pity is the emotion I feel most for “Y2K.” Clearly made with a good heart, it just fails to hit the mark on anything memorable or entertaining in its somehow sluggish 90-minute runtime. Despite a few chuckles here and there, this throwback to the end of the millennium will likely be lost to time.

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