Mountainhead (2025) Movie Review – Lacks novelty but entertains nonetheless

The Review Geek

2 days ago

Lacks novelty but entertains nonetheless
Two years after Succession, Jesse Armstrong brings us his feature film debut, Mountainhead. We follow a poker night between three billionaires and one multi-millionaire tech bros and their insufferably absurd minds. As a result, you might stumble upon a gold mine of dialogue like: 'Running a country like Paraguay is easier than breaking into a mature consumer sector' (they are talking about coffee shops, by the way). As their interests in the meeting come to the surface, so does their paranoia, and things start to get dangerous.
The cast is incredible, and all of them are believable as these ridiculous satires. Steve Carell (Randall), Jason Schwartzman (Soup), Cory Michael Smith (Venis), and Ramy Youssef (Jeff) prove once again they're the right picks for any comedy movie. Adding to this, it delves not only into a credible problem but one we're already fighting to some degree.
An unmonitored and deeply problematic AI is being used to create distrust, controversy, and even armed conflicts. Obviously Venis, its creator, doesn't listen to reason for a second and only thinks about increasing his net worth.
Armstrong has the characters in the palm of his hand, fully understanding what goes through their heads. Venus is the best example of that. While talking with Randall, he asks his friend if he believes in people, displaying vulnerability that neither seems to see. This nuance only gets more interesting when we see that his AI is the start of a plan to transcend humanity and rely more on technology. His fears are in plain sight, but they're too superficial to realize.
Every character gets moments like this, and we comprehend Soup is a suck-up and the punching bag of the group way before he admits his insecurities.
Still, even with incredible stars and good nuances, Mountainhead has a jarring problem. It's lacking a sense of novelty or excitement. This satirical 'Eat the Rich' genre has been especially popular recently, with big names like Saltburn, Ready or Not, Triangle of Sadness, and Knives Out to name but a few. With that, the billionaire/tech bro archetype only feels stale.
We've seen the same traits repeated there several times, and, in almost two hours, Armstrong unfortunately can't bring anything new to the table. Although he tries with the AI situation and the slapstick humor, it's a 'small fish in a big pond' problem. A big pond that — for better or for worse — he helped create with Succession.
Even its absurdness seems grounded at times. During the second half of the feature, we see a fun twist when three of the characters decide they must kill their other friend. It's funny seeing they fail at that in the dumbest ways possible.
However, the viewer can't shake the feeling that the script is confining the story's potential. It's as if the movie is always one more twist or genius idea away from becoming great. Even in its final moments, it feels like Armstrong tries to do that. But he never can, and the screen fades to black.
Even though there's nothing groundbreaking about it, Mountainhead is still a good time. When some of the jokes land, they're hilarious. And the character's chemistry never feels off, only when intended. If you're a fan of the genre, it'll likely be a fun watch.