WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Mountainhead.
Fans of Jesse Armstrong’s award-winning family drama seriesSuccessionwill have plenty of reasons to either love or hate his first feature-length film,Mountainhead. AlthoughSuccessionended in 2023 after four outstanding seasons, which some viewers may argue was too short a run, the impact of the hit HBO show is still felt today.Mountainheaddoesn’t specifically exist in the narrative world ofSuccession– even though they’re both essentially set in the modern world – but there are no mentions of theRoy family or their media business, Waystar Royco.
Successioncreator Jesse Armstrong wrote and directedMountainhead, his very first project sinceSuccessionconcluded. WhileSuccessionreceived rave reviews and aRotten Tomatoesscore of 95% across all four seasons,Mountainheadreceived much less favorable reviews, resulting in anRTcritic score of 76% paired with a surprisingly low audience score of 28%. Steve Carell leads thecast ofMountainheadas Randall, a billionaire on a mountainside vacation with fellow wealthy tech personalities, Venis (Cory Michael Smith), Jeff (Ramy Youssef), and Hugo Van Yalk aka Souper (Jason Schwartzman).
Armstrong has gone from creating a TV dynasty to directing his first feature-length film withMountainhead. While the filmsomewhat resembles two back-to-back episodes ofSuccession, there are certain structural requirements for a movie that differ from those of a TV script, primarily due to the significantdifference in story length. Armstrong has written screenplays for film before, such asIn the Loop,Four Lions, andDownhill, butMountainheadmarks his first-ever feature film directorial effort. In fact,Armstrong never directed any episode in any of his acclaimed series, including Succession and Peep Show, makingMountainheadhis directorial debut in both film and TV.
They Lack The Charm & Likability Of The Roy Family
Image via Max
While each member of the Roy family has their own unattractive and immoral qualities, the main characters inMountainheadare truly detestable and at times insufferable. That’s certainly intentional and part of the overall satire running throughout the movie, but it becomes nearly impossible to find any likable or redeeming qualities in all but one of the four lead characters. Creating a movie likeMountainheadis a challenge from the start, since these characters aremeant to represent some of the most powerful yet childish men on the planet.If you’re furious while watchingMountainhead, that’s kind of the point, but it doesn’t make for a lighthearted watch.
The Movie Gives Sharp Inside Access To This Rare POV
If you’re looking for an accurate portrayal of the modern tech billionaire,Mountainheadis probably the best movie available to dive into the rarified slice of life. There’s a natural sense ofcamaraderie between the four main characters based solely on the fact that they’re all wealthy and successful. If one of them were not, then there would be virtually no reason for the other three to talk to them, from their elitist point of view.
These billionaires (although Souper isa mere multimillionaire who is desperate to earn his first billion, or “b-nut”) have an emergency bunker fit for kings while they propel AI-driven chaos, redefining a new line between the “haves and have-nots.”
People Outside The Tech Space Will Have To Look Words Up
Mountainheadis authentic with its frequent use of real-world tech bro jargon, but it makes it hard to fully understand what the characters are talking about from the outside looking in.Certain buzzwords are completely foreign to the average vieweror people who aren’t involved in the tech space, some of them technical, and others an evolved form of tech bro slang.
Mountainheadis authentic with its frequent use of real-world tech bro jargon, but it makes it hard to fully understand what the characters are talking about from the outside looking in.
Personally, I appreciate the research that Armstrong must have done to include so much of this particular vocabulary, but there were many words I had to guess what they meant based on context, since I had never heard of them before.This can be a bit disorienting or frustrating for viewerswho don’t want to pause and Google every so often.
6Love: Steve Carell & Main Cast Create An Entertaining Dynamic
Many Viewers Love To Hate These Awful & Narcissistic Characters
Steve Carell and his co-stars were certainly well cast for theirMountainheadroles and brought a lot to the table in terms of making these characters memorable and entertaining. Whether you fully understand the buzzwords and plot or not, Carell and the main cast ofMountainheadare snappy and witty enough for them to be understood based on their performances alone. There’s a general comedic but menacing sense in all of these characters, andeach comes equipped with their own set of “icks” and terrible traits. It’s certainly entertaining to watch these awful people lie and manipulate with such laughable self-seriousness, making them lovable to hate.
It Makes Viewers Feel Powerless & Hopeless About The Future Of The World
Mountainhead’splot can best be described as uncomfortable, given the nonchalance of theseout-of-touch tech billionaires letting deepfake images and videos cause global unrest. These billionaires are essentially playing god and treating humanity like players in a video game, which is a pretty eerie feeling from the comfort of your living room couch.
These billionaires are essentially playing god and treating humanity like players in a video game, which is a pretty eerie feeling from the comfort of your living room couch.
The film feels like it’s presentinga massive problem with the state of the world and the unchecked status of American capitalism, only to end with the feeling that there’s nothing anyone can do about it. These types of immature, egotistical A-holes have so much power and so little concern for people other than themselves, which is terrifying.
Armstrong Creates Effective Scenarios For These Human Monsters
LikeSuccession, the satire element ofMountainheadis what makes it most entertaining and tolerable. Everything from a lipstick net-worth ritual to a comedic attempted murder plot makesthese types of people look like power-hungry buffoons and very strange monsters. There are notes throughoutMountainheadthat point to how miserable and, in some cases, apathetic these billionaires are, overcompensating with money, power, and success to cover up deep insecurities and whatnot. While these emotional elements aren’t really explored, Armstrong’s satire is effective towards whatMountainheadis actually about.
It’s Very Much A Drama, While Succession Was A Dark Comedy
Mountainheadwill make viewers feel a variety of emotions – perhaps jealousy or even despair – but the comedy is a bit hit-or-miss. The film doesn’t feel like it’s trying to make you laugh, and if it is, the humormay not be as effective because the characters are so insufferable. There are moments you may want to laugh, but don’t want to give any more credit to these egomaniacs. For me, I found Jason Schwartzman’s character to be the funniest because of how sad he is beneath his massive net worth, which his friends consider low. The way he belittles himself and cares so much about what his more wealthy friends think is as funny as it is pitiful.
There’s no question Armstrong was behind the vision ofMountainhead, which has a cold yet impressive aesthetic that does feel somewhat nostalgic forSuccessionfans. The natural mountainside setting inMountainheadreminded me of when theRoys and the Waystar team went to Lukas Matsson’s house in Norway inSuccessionseason 4, episode 5. If you calledMountainheada spin-off ofSuccession, you wouldn’t really be wrong. The same creator, character archetypes, and elitist setting makeMountainheada bit of a sister project to Succession. That said, a fifth season ofSuccession, or an actualSuccessionmovie, would have been much better.
Randall Is Certainly No Kendall Roy
The ending ofMountainheadis bleak and features no Roy-family catharsisas in the ending ofSuccessionseason 4. Steve Carell’s Randall is driven away, realizing that the deal he weaseled out of Ramy Youssef’s Jeff is off, and Cory Michel Smith’s Venis is going to do what’s best for him at the end of the day.
Randall starts to tear up silently, reminiscent of those classic Kendall Roy scenesof him looking lost or distraught in the backseat of a car, but it’s incredibly easy not to feel bad for him. He’s upset because Ven’s deal with Jeff means that he may not be able to upload his consciousness to the cloud, which any normal person watchingMountainheadwould not have any sympathy for. He does, however, look like the loneliest man in the world, which is gratifying.
