MOUNTAINHEAD: Do you believe in other people?

In a melodramatic farce that could only come from the talents of an Iannucci alum, “Mountainhead” is a fantastic and incisive film that will be heralded for being able to truly, deeply, accurately, and with great detail deconstruct the tech overlords we have come to be beholden to, and how power dissociates people from their humanity.

Though at first it leans into the most corny and overwritten characters with joyous and spectacular effect — seeing as their real life analogues all speak like that anyway — as we ascend, we start to realise that this is no ordinary farce.

Never short on latent Homoeroticism and brazen nihilistic masculinity, Armstrong paints a familiar portrait in an alien style, dipping into a cadence and logic that truly can only be described, quite aptly, as “4Chan on Steroids”. (Perhaps even 8Chan on steroids).

The casting of Ramy as Jeff is a conspicuous and completely deliberate choice, as the four powerful Brewsters meet at the Summit for a weekend — No deals, no meals, no high heels. The world is collapsing around them, AI wrecking havoc on civilisation, but here in the middle of nowhere, they’re insulated.

However – it’s not clear what’s real and what isn’t, in so many ways.

All of this gets served with a large dose of humour, cringe and some absolutely mind-blowing performances from each and every man involved, including career bests from both Ramy Youssef and Steve Carrell.

Instead of leaning into what you’d expect, Armstrong veers leftward (pun intended) to truly deconstruct how aggrandised masculinity self-immolates under the weight of itself. As men drift further and further from their own humanity, they drag us down to hell with them instead of confronting their own alienation, or looking for wholeness in a return to the ground. These men quite literally refuse to be grounded - climbing stairs, mountains and more to try and avoid themselves and their internal lives.

Without any spoilers for either, and not to pit two films against each other, I will simply say — this is the film “Eddington” thinks it is, and I genuinely look forward to the ways everyone will analyse and continue to uncover this film over the weeks after it’s release.

Jesse Armstrong, we salute you.

THIS REVIEW WILL BE UPDATED WITH OUR SPOILER-FUL COVERAGE AFTER THE RELEASE OF THE FILM
on the 1ST JUNE 2025, on SKY and streaming service NOW.