Mountainhead

“Mountainhead” is one of those films you could tear apart in seconds if you felt like being picky. The story is fairly simple, almost a long joke stretched to feature length, and it doesn’t pretend to be deeper than it is. But the script moves so fast, hits so sharply, and knows exactly what reaction it wants from you that, even if you’ve seen a thousand satires about rich guys playing with the world like it’s a toy, you end up going along with it.What works best is the tone. That mix of discomfort and short, nervous laughter. A sense of humor that punches rather than smiles, mostly aimed at these tech “visionaries” who behave like overgrown children. And yes, it’s impossible not to think of Succession —not only because of the spiteful energy, but the way it portrays people who are brilliant on paper and dangerously clueless in **** plot itself isn’t groundbreaking. It works, it keeps you watching, but it never fully breaks out of its own bubble. Sometimes you can see Armstrong building the narrative skeleton mostly to serve the clever scenes, not the other way around. Still, those scenes land more often than not: snappy dialogue, perfectly timed humiliations, and a rhythm that blends lightness with real bite.What the film does nail is that uncomfortable clarity about how close this may be to reality. Even when it feels obvious, there’s something true in how it shows these men improvising their way through crises with the confidence of people who’ve never had to face consequences. It’s funny, until you realize it’s also **** a masterpiece, but a solid, well-paced, deliciously nasty ride with a cast clearly having fun. For what it wants to be, it delivers.

Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Ramy Youssef and Cory Michael Smith play super-rich tech bros who gather at the titular home to hang. While they watch the world disintegrate in a major economic crisis (due to their own AI software), they plan ways to make their power even greater. Actually, almost all they do is banter with continuous jargon that’s sometimes confusing. Luckily, the actors are all fully invested in their characters, embracing the arrogant **** that they are. Writer/director Jesse Armstrong is famous for creating “Succession” and his fascination with the elite takes an even more disgusting tone here. While the energy of the actors and Armstrong’s direction keeps it moving briskly, the dialogue gets tiresome and ultimately these melomaniacs are more contemptable than sympathetic.

It’s basically ‘Devs’, except that everyone is Nick Offerman and nothing happens.

(Mauro Lanari) It's trite to say that Big Tech manipulates us through social engineering, but this would be impossible if our nature, neuroencephalic even before being psychological, weren't riddled with vulnerabilities. And as long as no one knows if or how to fix such a sieve, we'll remain at the mercy of anyone who benefits by exploiting us. History tells us the line is endless; now it's their turn. However, I'd rather think not about scapegoats like another Sisyphus or Don Quixote, but about my/our own inherent flaws that have always allowed this to happen. If only the movie hadn’t seemed scripted by a Sorkin suffering from verbal diarrhea, it would have been less unbearable.

Expecting same level of entertainment, wit, satire and drama as "Succession". "Mountainhead" failed on all counts. Waste of time. Even THE house was not that great.