MOUNTAINHEAD (2025)

What happens behind closed doors when tech billionaires come together for a poker weekend in Utah? Mountainhead follows four of the world’s richest people stuck alone in a house together when the world literally burns around them. Written and directed by the creator of Succession (2018–2023), Jesse Armstrong, Mountainhead reuses many of the themes of the hit HBO show, only on a smaller scale.

Three tech billionaires head to Hugo’s (Jason Schwartzman) Utah home for a weekend of poker, drinking, and bragging. Hugo made his money from a meditation app but sadly finds himself the poorest of the group, as he isn’t yet worth a billion. Due to his inadequate finances, he’s even nicknamed ‘Soup’ (after a soup kitchen). His hosting the trio is part social gathering, part attempt to get one of them to invest in his app.

Randy (Steve Carell) might not be the richest, but he has the most power of the quartet. He has contacts in Washington, D.C., and can easily influence the military, but has found something money can’t fix: his incurable cancer. He’s hoping one of his friends and their advanced A.I. tech can help him cheat death.

The richest of all is Jeff (Ramy Youssef), who’s invented the most efficient A.I. ever known, which can help spot and rectify deepfakes, making him the wunderkind envied by the others. However, the man who seems to hold all the cards and respect in the group is Venis (Cory Michael Smith), the owner of a social media app called Traan. While all these men share professional and personal similarities to Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, Ven more closely resembles Elon Musk. His character owns a social media app whose fake news has caused worldwide chaos, and he can call the US President in seconds. Smith also brings numerous Musk mannerisms to his eccentric, socially awkward mogul.

Before they even arrive for the weekend, news stories play in the background about a huge global conflict. The escalating chaos has been set off by deepfakes and misinformation spread on Traan. Ven isn’t bothered that his website has caused the assassination of a French politician, Argentina’s economy to collapse, and most of India to be on fire. Ven sees this global violence as a way to get Jeff to give him his A.I. tech, promising he’ll use it to curb the deepfakes. It’s scary because it feels so believable.

The global news becomes so loud that even the quartet has to start taking notice. Not because they want to use their money and power for humanitarian reasons. They see the dystopian event unfolding as a way to gather even more money and power.

Only shot in March 2025, Mountainhead is a biting look at how little the uber-rich care about real-world politics and communities until it starts playing with their bank accounts. All the characters and the political landscape feel realistic, but never parody real-world events. While all four have hints of real-world tech giants, no one is playing a distracting caricature.

Mountainhead relies on the talent of the four leading actors, with the film’s only supporting cast members having minor roles as partners and assistants. Without such skilled performers, these characters would seem oversized and unbearable man-children. Yet, in the hands of four skilled character actors, they aren’t caricature tech billionaires; they are layered megalomaniacs with their own insecurities.

Schwartzman has hints of Roman Roy to him, his loudmouth crudity hiding his insecurities at being only a multi-millionaire and not a billionaire. Carell brings Michael Scott back to life as a cartoonish man-child who is not as smart as he thinks he is. Very few actors can so smoothly jump between pure drama, physical humour, and absurdist comedy as Carell. Youssef delivers a sincerity as Jeff, the only guy who could be considered ‘good’, as there is some form of moral compass there. It’s the perfect balance of smug tech wunderkind and someone who still remembers wanting to do the right thing. Jeff’s place in the group and Youssef’s grounded performance help balance out some of the larger choices made by the other actors.

The real standout performance goes to Cory Michael Smith as Venis. He’s self-important, cruel, and downright unlikeable, yet his social awkwardness and need to be respected give the character humanity. Although the action takes place primarily in just one mansion, the location never feels claustrophobic, thanks to these performances. It’s clear the actors are having a ball as grown men with the same care for the world as little boys on a school trip.

The frantic camerawork and quick dialogue evoke Succession’s trademark acerbic wit. Mountainhead could essentially be one of their bottle episodes, where one of the Roy kids spends a weekend with their buddies looking for an investment deal. The camera zooms around behind the quartet, peering through windows and doors like a documentary, eavesdropping on business deals and making the audience feel like they are peering into a world they don’t belong to.

A trademark of the successful television series was dropping the audience straight into proceedings, and Mountainheadis no different. The writing expects the audience to catch up to what is happening and who these people are, rather than putting them through heavy exposition. It’s easy to lose your way if you dare drop concentration or look away from the screen at the wrong time. It has to be lauded that Armstrong refuses to dumb his voice down for modern social media-addicted audiences.

Mountainhead is droll and sharp but rarely laugh-out-loud funny. It also takes some in-depth knowledge of real-world current affairs, especially in America, to really appreciate what the writing is doing. Made only months ago, the jokes and references are refreshingly up to date, but may be so niche that they may go over the heads of those not constantly updating their news feeds. While not an out-and-out laugh-a-minute comedy, there are plenty of trademark zingers bandied between these old friends to earn a laugh or two.

While it excels at the talking, there isn’t a lot of doing or happening in Mountainhead. Anyone looking for action or big redemption arcs may be disappointed. There is the promise of a third-act bombshell, but ultimately, the audience may feel a little dejected by the end of the proceedings. This film is simply a fleeting glance at the lives of the richest and worst people you’ll ever meet. While monumental events are happening that will forever change the lives of real people, this is just another weekend for these businessmen and will have barely any impact on their lives (or bank accounts).

USA | 2025 | 108 MINUTES | 2.76:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

writer & director: Jesse Armstrong.
starring: Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Cory Michael Smith, Ramy Youssef, Hadley Robinson, Andy Daly, Daniel Orestes, David W. Thompson, Amie MacKenzie, Ava Kostia & Ali Kinkade.