Jesse Armstrong’s Mountainhead, released on May 31, 2025, attempts to skewer the tech elite, but largely misses the mark, delivering a tedious and largely humorless experience. While advertised as a “darkly comedic satire,” the film struggles to find its comedic footing, leaving viewers with a sense of boredom and frustration rather than insightful commentary or genuine laughs.
The film brings together four tech billionaires—Venis Parish (Cory Michael Smith), Jeff Abredazi (Ramy Youssef), Randall Garrett (Steve Carell), and Hugo “Souper” Van Yalk (Jason Schwartzman)—at a secluded Utah lodge amidst a global crisis fueled by AI-driven disinformation. The premise has potential, but the execution falls flat. The primary issue lies in the characters themselves, particularly Steve Carell’s Randall Garrett.
Carell, usually a master of comedic timing and nuanced performances, is saddled with a character who is, quite frankly, an insufferable douchebag. Randall, a bloviating venture capitalist, constantly spouts philosophical jargon and self-important pronouncements, convinced of his own intellectual superiority despite clearly being out of touch. His belief in imminent transhumanist solutions while unable to perform basic tasks like boiling an egg is meant to be funny, but it mostly serves to highlight his utter lack of redeeming qualities. He’s not charmingly arrogant; he’s just plain annoying. The film attempts to derive humor from his cluelessness and the petty one-upmanship among the billionaires, but the jokes rarely land. It often feels like watching a group of truly awful people bicker, and without a compelling plot or engaging situations, it becomes tiresome very quickly.
Indeed, “nothing ever happens” is a recurring thought throughout Mountainhead. Despite the backdrop of a rolling international crisis and global chaos caused by AI, the film mostly confines its action to the conversations between these four men. It’s essentially a play, heavy on dialogue and short on actual events. The dramatic tension is supposed to come from their clashing agendas and their detached reactions to the world crumbling around them, but this often translates to them merely staying glued to their phones, debating the crisis as if it were a game. The film’s pacing is slow, and the dialogue, while attempting to be clever and filled with tech-bro jargon, frequently becomes “tiresome” and “confusing.” There are no explosions, no car chases, and very little in the way of traditional plot development. This approach might appeal to some who enjoy character-driven, dialogue-heavy pieces, but for many, it results in a “boring” experience.
The comedic value of Mountainhead is remarkably low. While Jesse Armstrong’s previous work on Succession was lauded for its sharp wit and dark humor, Mountainhead struggles to replicate that success. The characters’ weak jokes, even when delivered by talented comedic actors like Carell and Schwartzman, fall flat. The humor is often “bleak” and “brutal,” but lacks the insightful sting or genuine laugh-out-loud moments that make satire effective. Instead of a “dark comedy,” it often feels like a “morality play whose subtext has the subtlety of a teenage poem.” Some viewers have even stated they “didn’t laugh a single time.” The film aims to ridicule the “carelessness of certain well-known tech billionaires,” but the portrayal of these characters is so consistently unlikable and the situations so stagnant that the satire loses its bite. It’s difficult to find amusement in the antics of characters who are merely “contemptable” rather than comically absurd.
In conclusion, Mountainhead, despite its timely premise and a cast of talented actors, ultimately fails to deliver as a compelling or comedic film. Steve Carell’s portrayal of Randall Garrett, while perhaps intentionally obnoxious, contributes to the overall unpleasant viewing experience. The lack of a clear plot progression and the low comedic return make Mountainhead a difficult watch, leaving one to wonder what the “point” truly was.
