Mountainhead: A Weekend with Tech Billionaires

A One Mann’s Movies review of “Mountainhead” (2025).

Imagine if Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos spent a weekend at Richard Branson’s exotic Utah ski-lodge. And this happens while the world handles a new social media AI release. This is the intriguing comic set up behind the new ‘Sky Original’ Movie “Mountainhead”.

It should work shouldn’t it? Sadly, it really doesn’t.

Bob the Movie Man Rating:

*Tech bros assemble. From left, Souper (Jason Schwartzman), Jeff (Ramy Youssef) and Randall (Steve Carell). (Source: Sky Movies).*

“Mountainhead” Plot:

Souper (Jason Schwartzman) is the ‘poorest’ of a bunch of billionaire frat boys. The group also comprises Randall (Steve Carell), Venis (Cory Michael Smith), and Jeff (Ramy Youssef). Souper is the host for a weekend get together. But tensions are high. Venis has just released a new social media update on his global platform Traam. This update has the capability to generate deep fake news reports. As a result, the world is ablaze. Jeff has the advanced AI tools to help stop it but doesn’t want to merge. The weekend is about to get heated.

Certification:

UK: 15; US: R. (This has not yet been rated by the BBFC, but is self-rated a ’15’ on the Sky Movies channel.)

Talent:

Starring: Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Cory Michael Smith, Ramy Youssef.

Directed by: Jesse Armstrong.

Written by: Jesse Armstrong.

Running Time: 1h 48m.

“Mountainhead” Summary:

Positives:

There’s a lot of potential here and a great cast: you occasionally see glimmers of that.
The location is extraordinary: a really striking snow-bound mansion.

Negatives:

It’s not funny enough, given how dislikeable the characters are.
It all gets a bit dull and tedious.
Not once did I believe any of the story’s elements.

*Steve Carell as Randall, contemplating his own mortality then rejecting the idea. (Source: Sky Movies)*

Review of “Mountainhead”:

A lot of potential but just not realised.

You can tell that this is done by the creator of “Succession”, and not just from the swear-word content. The characters in it are universally loathsome. Venis (Cory Michael Smith), the richest of the lot by far, is especially detestable. He is an amoral sociopath who doesn’t care if the world burns. He only cares that his billions continue to stack up. Randall (Steve Carell) is the father-figure of the group, but equally without scruples and narcissistic with it. He’s forbidding his cancer to progress, berating his doctors for giving him ‘fake news’. He inwardly fumes when the supercilious Souper (Jason Schwartzman) suddenly gets a boost that leapfrogs over him in the billions tally. The only one you can really empathize with is Jeff (Ramy Youssef). Although he is a complete arsehole, he feels like an arsehole you could still have a drink with.

Sadly, you never really get to know them enough to despise them or root for them. At least with “Succession” you had multiple series to get to know their different foibles and idiosyncrasies. Roman Roy was equally despicable but you got to love him for that. Here, it is just annoying, resulting in me feeling disconnected with it and bored before we got to the 90-minute mark.

Not enough jokes.

For a ‘comedy’, there are just not enough jokes. There’s really only two satirical streaks to the thing: 1) that these tech-bros manipulate the world and don’t give a shit about what they do (which is kind of what we all think anyway in real-life); and 2) that they have to stay a happy bunch of bros regardless of all of the insults, back-stabbing and attempted murder that is going on (just another day in the White House). That’s basically it.

It reminded me at some points of the anarchic comedic streak of “Don’t Look Up“, but without the jokes. I smiled a few times and sniggered once or twice. But that didn’t keep me sufficiently entertained. I pondered about how much better this could be if Adam McKay, or perhaps Armando Iannucci, had been let lose on the premise.

A wonderful location.

The location, in Park City, Utah, is breath-taking. A mansion slapped onto the snowy mountainside like some Bond villain lair and decorated in stark style. There is an article here about the property.