‘Mountainhead' is a lock for an Emmy nod. Its actors, not so much

Los Angeles Times

2 days ago

'Mountainhead,' a satirical skewering of tech oligarchs from 'Succession' showrunner Jesse Armstrong, arrived this weekend, dropping on the final day of this year's Emmy eligibility window.
I'm Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter. While we're pondering the timeline to upload a human consciousness, let's consider 'Mountainhead' and its Emmy chances.
Early on in 'Mountainhead,' tech bro and Elon Musk stand-in Venis Parish (Cory Michael Smith) uses film history to put the glitches of his company's latest AI rollout into perspective.
'The first time people saw a movie, everybody ran screaming because they thought they were gonna get hit by a train,' Venis relates, shouting out the Lumiere brothers' 1895 film, 'Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station.' 'The answer to that was not stop the movies. The answer was: Show more movies. We're gonna show users as much s— as possible, until everyone realizes nothing's that f— serious. Nothing means anything, and everything's funny and cool.'
In the meantime, though, Venis' social media platform has given users the tools to create deepfakes so realistic they can't be identified as bogus. Immediately, people all over the world are uploading videos of their enemies committing atrocities, inflaming centuries-old animosities. Reality has collapsed and, with it, global stability.
But for 'Mountainhead's' quartet of tech magnates, played by Smith, Steve Carell, Ramy Youssef and Jason Schwartzman, everything is just fine. As venture capitalist Randall Garrett (Carell) notes, 'We have plenty of calories stockpiled. Western countries have strategic commodity reserves, canola oil, lard, frozen orange juice.'
Later, Randall asks: 'Are we the Bolsheviks of a new techno world order that starts tonight?'
'Mountainhead' is in many ways scarier than the zombie apocalypse of 'The Last of Us' because it feels like its premise is lurking right around the corner. Armstrong came up with the idea for the two-hour movie in November, after immersing himself in podcasts and books about Silicon Valley. He shot it in March, edited it in April and delivered it in May. It captures the DOGE era, specifically in the casual cruelty expressed by its entitled characters.
'Do you believe in other people?' Venis asks Randall. 'Eight billion people as real as us?'
Randall's reply: 'Well, obviously not.'
'Mountainhead' aspires more directly to comedy, but because we don't have a history with these four deplorable men, it's often difficult to find the humor. 'Like 'Fountainhead' Mountainhead?' Youssef jokes to Schwartzman about the estate's title. 'Was your interior decorator Ayn Bland?' There's a procession of put-downs like that. When they're not roasting each other, they're trying to boost their own agendas — in the case of the cancer-stricken Randall, it's the quest to live forever as a disembodied consciousness.
For all its Shakespearean drama, 'Succession' was wildly entertaining, more of a comedy than, yes, 'The Bear.' Kendall Roy performing the rap 'L to the OG' at a party honoring his father's half-century running Waystar Royco will be the funniest two minutes of television probably forever. But half the fun came from the characters' reactions to this transcendent moment of cringe. We were deeply invested in this world.
For all their money and power, the 'Mountainhead' moguls are, like the Roy children in 'Succession,' not serious people. But beyond that, 'Mountainhead' doesn't have much of anything novel to say about its subjects. As good as Smith is at channeling Musk's alien, empathy-deficient otherness, you can come away with the same level of insight — and entertainment — by spending a few minutes watching Mike Myers on 'Saturday Night Live.' I don't need to watch a movie to know that a guy sitting on a gold toilet isn't prioritizing anyone's interests but his own.
'Mountainhead,' as mentioned, arrives on the last day of 2024-25 Emmy eligibility, less by design than from necessity. The paint's still wet on this film. But this does mark the third straight season that HBO has dropped a TV movie right before the deadline. Last year, it was 'The Great Lillian Hall,' starring Jessica Lange as fading Broadway legend. Two years ago, it was the excellent whistleblower thriller 'Reality,' featuring a star turn from Sydney Sweeney. Both movies were blanked at the Emmys, though Kathy Bates did manage a Screen Actors Guild Awards nod for 'Lillian Hall.'
Did the movies land too late for enough people see them? Perhaps. The late arrival time should mean they'd be fresh in voters' minds when they fill out their ballots. But you have to be aware of them for that to happen.
Awareness shouldn't be an issue with 'Mountainhead.' Enough people will want to watch the new offering from the creator of 'Succession,' and there's not much else on television vying for attention right now. 'Mountainhead' should score a nomination for television movie, even with the category being stronger than usual this year with audience favorites 'Rebel Ridge,' the latest 'Bridget Jones' movie and Scott Derrickson's enjoyable, genre-bending 'The Gorge' competing.
But actors in these TV movies are at competitive disadvantage as the Emmys lump them together with their counterparts in limited series, performers who are onscreen for a much longer time. This decade, only two TV movie actors have been nominated — Hugh Jackman ('Bad Education') and Daniel Radcliffe ('Weird: The Al Yankovic Story'). The lead actress category, meanwhile, has been completely dominated by limited series.
Not that there are any women starring in 'Mountainhead' because ... tech bros. As for the men, Carell, Schwartzman, Smith and Youssef are very good at conveying delusional arrogance. I despised each and every one of their characters. If hate-voting were a thing, they'd all be nominated.