Mountainhead
★★★ 1/2
As a self-proclaimed Succession superfan (Team Gerri forever), I was all-in when I heard Jesse Armstrong was making his feature debut with Mountainhead. I mean, a self-contained drama about four tech billionaires holed up in a luxurious, snow-covered rental with bowling lanes and snowmobiles? Sign me up.
At first, though, I’ll admit—I was struggling. The film leans hard into Succession-adjacent territory: razor-sharp, jargon-laced banter among emotionally stunted narcissists, all packed into one sprawling mega-cabin. And while the dialogue is impressively researched and the performances (Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Ramy Youssef and Cory Michael Smith) are strong, it kind of felt like being trapped in a tech panel moderated by Elon Musk’s burner account.
The real issue? There’s no relief. In Succession, we could breathe—cutting away to Cousin Greg’s awkward flailing or a perfectly timed Shiv eye-roll. But Mountain Head stays locked in its icy bunker of ego, where the satire gets so dense it almost collapses under its own weight.
But then… halfway through, the film pivots. Hard.
And it’s glorious.
What starts as a biting satire about tech culture and late-stage capitalism slowly morphs into an absurdist dark comedy that had me genuinely laughing harder than I have at a movie in a while. Armstrong finally lets go of the self-seriousness, and the movie suddenly breathes.
By the end, I went from a lukewarm 2.5 stars to a solid 3.5. The structure’s still a bit bloated—cut 20 minutes from the first act, and I think this could’ve really hit—but I walked away impressed that Armstrong wasn’t just doing a victory lap. He’s actually trying something new here.
Will it hit for everyone? Probably not. If you haven’t watched Succession, a lot of the nuance may be lost. But if you have and you’re curious what happens when Logan Roy's energy meets a snowed-in TED Talk with a side of Veep absurdity? You might just enjoy the ride.
And hey, if this is Armstrong working out the kinks, I can’t wait to see what he does next.
