'Mountainhead' skewers the tech elite -- and it's very satisfying (NPR review of new film on HBO Max + trailer)

[highplainsdem]

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/31/nx-s1-5413129/mountainhead-review-hbo-movie-steve-carell

The new film Mountainhead, written and directed by Succession creator Jesse Armstrong, is about the super-rich, so people may expect something Succession-ish: a tragedy studded with dark humor. Instead, in the tradition of Armstrong's work on the British series The Thick of It and the film In the Loop, Mountainhead is a comedy — a bleak, brutal comedy, but a comedy nonetheless.

The action unfolds at the titular mountain mansion newly built by Hugo (Jason Schwartzman), a millionaire hundreds of times over who is trying to figure out how to take his meditation app to the next level. Hugo — whose friends call him "Souper" for reasons that will be uncovered — has invited three billionaire buddies for what's ostensibly a poker weekend: Venis (Cory Michael Smith), a social media titan casually referenced as the richest man in the world; Jeff (Ramy Youssef), a rival to Venis with a powerful AI company; and Randy (Steve Carell), a venture capitalist who has just received some bad health news that he has decided not to believe.

As the men arrive at Mountainhead, they see online that the new generative AI features in Venis' social media app have led to global mass violence as fake videos bait people into conflict and panic. Economies are beginning to collapse. As all four men take in the potential downfall of civilization on their phones, they're not sure how worried to be. Jeff is against all the death and suffering, but he also sees opportunity. See, Jeff's AI technology has the ability to distinguish truth from fiction, meaning he has the cure to the disease Ven has unleashed. Ven wants to buy his company, but Jeff isn't inclined to sell. After all, the more desperate the world grows, the more valuable Jeff's product might become. For him, it makes sense to get as close to the apocalypse as possible before he cashes in.

-snip-

[Traildogbob]

1. Thanks for the heads up

Saw the clips and was afraid it would be pro rich shit.
I will certainly check it out.

[highplainsdem]

3. I'll be watching it this evening.

[nuxvomica]

2. It's worth watching

I found it disturbing, enraging, and darkly humorous. The twisted "morals" of these rich idiots, their disdain for other humans and their inability to think things through despite constantly declaring themselves the smartest guys on the planet, are convincingly portrayed.

[highplainsdem]

5. Definitely worth watching. And I agree with your description of it as disturbing, enraging and darkly humorous.

[TommyT139]

4. Thanks for the post

My partner and I watched it this evening - it was great, and spot on, and also disturbing.

Funny in the way that "Don't Look Up" was, but so much more precise and timely.

[highplainsdem]

6. Nailed it. As the film nailed those tech lords.

Musk hated SNL's mockery of him. He must really hate this film, since it skewers him and his pal Peter Thiel so well.