I lastly watched Mountainhead a number of months after it premiered on the 2025 film schedule, and I can’t fairly work out if it’s the funniest or scariest film I’ve seen all yr. Instantly after the surprising Mountainhead ending and whereas I used to be coming to phrases with its implications for the billionaire characters with no self-awareness or disgrace performed by its star-studded forged, I saved going forwards and backwards: Is that this funnier or scarier?
After pondering on it a superb whereas, I’ve come to the belief that this dynamic makes this film about 4 tech billionaires having a mountain retreat because the world burns round them (a results of their actions) so significantly better. Let me clarify…
On One Hand, It is A Satirical Comedy That Does not Maintain Again
Okay, so what makes Mountainhead so humorous? For starters, Jesse Armstrong’s satirical comedy doesn’t maintain again with its depiction of billionaires as self-centered, cartoonishly ruthless, and sociopathic man-children who’re obsessive about energy, management, and a rising web value. The Succession creator is rather less delicate in his views of the 1% right here than he was together with his insanely widespread sequence that ended a few years in the past, and it really works. The truth is, it really works very well.
The unfathomably rich characters performed by Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Ramy Youssef, and Corey Michael Smith are so out of contact, absurd, and unlikable (even Youssef’s Jeff Abredazi, who we’re alleged to be rooting for) that it makes this a hilarious and pointed character examine that doesn’t maintain again. It’s surprising at instances, however by no means not humorous.
On The Different, It is A Terrifying Thriller That is Method Too Related In At this time’s Instances
Although Mountainhead is undeniably hilarious with its deception of billionaires and the lengths they’ll undergo to acquire extra energy, wealth, and even immortality within the case of 1 character, this film can be extremely terrifying. Even earlier than we get the entire “Kill Jeff so we are able to take his firm and make ourselves richer” half that makes this really feel much less like The Huge Brief and extra like The Shining, this film is stuffed with scary shit.
From Ven Parish’s (Smith) social firm growing deepfake know-how that’s not possible to vet, to the world actually going to hell beneath the mountain and Randall Garrett (Carell) attempting to change into “transhuman” so he can reside perpetually, so much is happening. What makes it all of the scarier is that all the pieces taking place isn’t too far off from actual life. We’re just about there (aside from the entire uploaded consciousness factor).
This Combination Of Tones Provides The Greatest Of Each Worlds
This is without doubt one of the finest motion pictures on HBO Max, and that’s largely because of the method it finds that excellent steadiness between comedy and terror. I initially saved going forwards and backwards about whether or not this film was funnier than it was scary, or the opposite method round, however now I see them as complementary to one another, which creates one thing enjoyable, recent, and distinctive.
This combination of tones offers one of the best of each worlds, which makes Mountainhead a lot enjoyable to observe. It’s by no means too terrifying as a result of there’s some wild scene or hilarious joke that breaks up the stress, and it’s by no means too humorous as that dose of actuality shortly kicks in at instances. It simply works!
Although Mountainhead did not take house the Primetime Emmy Award for finest film (that honor was given to Insurgent Ridge) it is a wild, unnerving, and unforgettable expertise like no different.