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The satirical comedy drama film Mountainhead is one of the most-watched movies on HBO Max. Its reception among the audience is understandable considering the people associated with it. The film is directed by Succession creator Jesse Armstrong and stars Steve Carell (The Office), Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore), Cory Michael Smith (Gotham), and Ramy Youssef (Ramy).
Disclaimer: This article reflects the opinions of the author.
That being said, there is one aspect of the film's reception that is causing widespread confusion among people, including myself. Since its release, Mountainhead has received multiple reviews from critics and viewers on the popular reviewing forum Rotten Tomatoes.
As of this writing, the film holds an 80 per cent rating from the critics and a 27 per cent rating from the viewers. While the audience's and critics' reception towards a project has differed many times in the past, a disparity so huge is something I have personally witnessed for the first time. However, after careful consideration, I finally understand why this is the case.
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While viewing a particular film, the critics have certain demarcators based on which they decide if something works or does not work for them. With the audience, the rules are comparatively relaxed. Someone may simply not like a movie because it did not meet their expectations or because the plot got boring midway.
Since Jesse Armstrong and the film's cast already have a host of work they are recognized for, the audience's expectations were naturally high. Considering that, the film could not satisfy the audiences, leading to a poor Rotten Tomatoes score.
The wide gap in the critics and viewers' reception towards Mountainhead is due to differing expectations
When the critics view something, they do so from certain angles, such as writing, direction, acting, cinematography, music, and so on. Therefore, their analysis of a project is much more nuanced. The viewers usually see a project as a whole and not in parts, which may result in extremely polarizing opinions among them.
This, I believe, as I have mentioned earlier as well, is responsible for the huge difference in the critics' and audiences' ratings surrounding Mountainhead on Rotten Tomatoes. I believe I am not too wrong about this, because the audience's comments on the platform also reflect a similar thing.
One person writes:
"Wanted to like this, but found it difficult to pay attention. Too much techno jibberish and finally gave up 3/4 of the way through when it got cringeworthy. Wasn’t amusing and fun."
Another user writes:
"This is completely unrealistic because although they seem deranged they do have some charisma and they speak coherently and can complete sentences with little to no pauses also there's no ketamine."
These are just a few examples, but as one can see, the audience is more inclined towards how the film made them feel without going into the nitty-gritty of it.
The critics' reviews, on the other hand, read completely differently. David Stone from Rolling Stone writes:
"There’s a real attention paid all the way through regarding the way that the powerful speak. And more importantly, how they use language to mask, justify, salve and dismiss their self-serving rottenness."
Jim Vorel from Paste Magazine writes:
"It’s filled with crisply written zingers, albeit encased in dialogue that can sometimes be overwhelmingly dense. It’s just so timely, and so sadly accurate, that it may make you want to go outside and stick your head in the sand."
As observed, the critics go into details of the film and based on that, critique it.
What is Mountainhead about?
Mountainhead tells the story of a group of four wealthy friends who go on a retreat to one of the friends' mountain homes to escape a world troubled by high levels of disinformation inundation caused by AI.
The film stars Steve Carell as Randall Garrett, Jason Schwartzman as Hugo "Souper" Van Yalk, Cory Michael Smith as Venis "Ven" Parish, and Ramy Youssef as Jeffrey "Jeff" Abredazi.
Mountainhead is currently streaming on HBO Max.
