Jesse Armstrong’s latest projectMountainheadis a pretty clear follow-up to his award-winning dramaSuccession, following a group of billionaires during a mountaintop retreat as they navigate the changing face of the industry. It’s a sharp satire that comments on the nature of capitalist society and the ever-growing “tech-bro” culture of today, with four brilliant performances from Steve Carell, Ramy Youssef, Cory Michael Smith, and Jason Schwartzman.Mountainheadis now available to stream on HBO Max.
Interestingly,the reception of Armstrong’s new feature has been incredibly mixed- and not just in the sense that it has clear strengths and weaknesses, but in the sense that critics seem to like it while audiences strongly don’t. TheRotten Tomatoesscores forMountainheaddiffer greatly, with critics landing at a respectable 79% while the audience score is just 26%. It’s not often that a movie has such a distinctive split between critics and audiences, butMountainhead’s reviewsoffer an interesting insight into why this may be the case.
What These Divided Reactions Mean For Mountainhead
The Project May Struggle To Find An Audience
While it’s great that Armstrong has managed to (mostly) win critics over with his razor-sharp screenplay and inspired direction, that 26% score proves his movie isn’t quite as accessible and engaging as general audiences would have hoped. This news is admittedly surprising given how successful and belovedSuccessionwas, but there’s an important distinction between the two projects that likely explains the divided response: whereSuccessionthrived in its complex character work,Mountainheadis much more plot-focused and less transparent in its social commentary.
This can definitely be alienating for those who aren’t totally immersed in the business world that Armstrong is trying to deconstruct, whereasSuccessionwas always easy to follow thanks to its fascinating characters.Mountainheadhas a brilliant cast, butthe screenplay is much more impenetrable than Armstrong is typically known for. This divided reception could definitely harmMountainhead’s success, as general viewers are much more likely to watch a movie with a high audience score than a high critics score, because critical success means very little if audiences aren’t enjoying the movie.
The Movie Clearly Has A Certain Audience In Mind
Image via Max
Although it’s very surprising thatMountainheadhasn’t been the huge triumph thatSuccessionwas, it makes a lot more sense after watching the project. Armstrong’s screenplay is very dialogue-heavy, and the sense of humor won’t resonate with everybody; there’s no attempt to ease viewers into this world of techno-capitalism, andit requires some existing interest in the themes that it’s exploring to even really enjoy. It takes the few aspects ofSuccessionthat divided audiences (the heavy exposition, finance lingo, and excessive dialogue) and almost exclusively uses these to push the narrative forward.
Ultimately,Mountainheadfeels like an obvious passion project that Armstrong wanted to make now that he’s not committed toSuccessionanymore. This likely explains the poor audience score, but it’s also nowhere near bad enough to bring the critics score down with it. Armstrong is clearly a very talented writer and director, and this is something that critics easily recognize in his work - even when it’s not at his best.
