Major spoilers for Mountainhead are ahead! If you have not watched the movie yet, you can stream it with an HBO Max subscription.
Mountainhead took a big and shocking turn when Cory Michael Smith’s Venis, Steve Carell’s Randall and Jason Schwartzman’s Souper decided to kill Ramy Youssef’s Jeff. Ultimately, their efforts failed, though, and Jeff walked out (pretty much) physically unharmed. However, in an even more shocking move to me, he didn’t run away; he stuck around to make a deal with Venis, and I couldn’t help but wonder why. So, I asked Smith and Youssef about it.
How Mountainhead Ended
In writer/director Jesse Armstrong’s entry on the 2025 movie schedule, a group of tech bros gather for a poker weekend. However, things take a turn for the worse as it's revealed that Venis’ app, which uses AI and deepfake technology, has caused worldwide outrage and violence. When Jeff decides not to take part in the other three’s plan to capitalize on this terrible situation to enter a “post-human” era, they decide to kill him.
Eventually, while locked in a sauna, Jeff signs a deal with Venis, Randall and Souper. The following morning, he does not immediately leave or aggressively confront the guys who tried to murder him. He’s offended by their actions, however, he keeps his cool. Then, as he was leaving, Venis approachs him, and Jeff tells him that while what happened was “funny,” “none of it” would “stick.” That leads to the following deal:
- Venis: What, you’re gonna, like, spend the rest of your life in court disowning all this crap that you just signed? Everybody wants me to have your shit. So, why don’t you be a hero and do the right thing? Do a deal, join forces.
- Jeff: Not with Randall. That’s too much.
- Venis: Randall’s sick.
- Jeff: Yeah, more cancer. Cancer of the take.
- Venis: If I get Randall put out to fucking pasture, can we do this deal? Come inside?
- Jeff: I can come inside. But I’ll come for you in the end, you know that.
- Venis: That’s what’s exciting.
Ultimately, they agree to “make a side bet,” as Jeff put it, after he said he didn’t think this could work and Venis said it would. And Smith’s character gets excited about this poker weekend having some “fucking action.” It ends with the bros hugging while Randall and Souper go back to their lives.
So, why did they agree to this deal despite the murder plot that unfolded mere hours before? Ramy Youssef and Cory Michael Smith told me.
Ramy Youssef Explains Why Jeff Was Willing To Keep His Relationship With Venis Alive
When I interviewed Ramy Youssef and Cory Michael Smith about this new streaming movie, I had to ask why Jeff would continue to make this deal despite everything. Ultimately, the Ramy star and director said it comes down to the idea that Jeff’s empathy is a great tool and makes him “dangerous,” and he wants to keep playing this game:
I mean, I think Jeff, in a lot of ways, could be, you know, the most dangerous character in the movie, because he has empathy. He does see what's going on. I think some of these other guys could probably be clinically diagnosed, as you know, unable to tap into human emotion, right? It could be medical for them. He doesn't have this, like, medical grade empathy issue. He actually sees it, and then he still chooses to play this sick, twisted game.
In a lot of ways, Jeff is the best person among the three, seeing as his tech could be used to stop the violence Venis’ app caused. However, that by no means makes him a good person. As we saw, he knows the power he holds in that sense, and that understanding and ambition mirror Venis in some ways.
According to Youssef, that’s partially why Jeff agrees to make a deal with Venis at the very end, as he explained:
And so in a way, I do think Venis probably is his best friend, because they're the only ones who understand the heights of where they are. And part of that game is going to be that they're going to completely debase each other. And I think Jeff probably looks at the idea that they want to kill him as something that he might also calculate if he weren't him. So it's just all like, it's all a game.
In that final interaction, I could sense the adrenaline rush both men got by this promise Jeff made to “weasel” his way out of what he signed while also potentially partnering with Venis. One could come out victorious, it could lead to mutually assured destruction, and the film leaves this outcome open-ended. However, what is known is that these two men are in it for the love of the game that will probably “never end,” as Youssef told EW.
Despite Trying To Kill Jeff, Cory Michael Smith Explained Why Venis Would Keep Working With Him
Right after Youssef told me that both Jeff and Venis are in this “for the love of the game,” Smith agreed with him, saying, “there’s a respect for the game” that they share. That’s probably why they were willing to make this agreement, despite the murderous events of the night before. While Jeff did it with the man who tried to murder him, Venis made a deal with a man who just promised to take him down. Explaining why he did that, Cory Michael Smith said:
I think there is both a real and a slightly performed anxiety. You know, he really just wants to get a deal done. And if the deal that was made last night doesn't stick legally, he just would rather go an easier route to be like, ‘Dude, we don't have to go through all the difficulty. Like, just give it up, take the money. It's so simple and easy, but like, I'll do whatever I need to do to make this happen, and you understand why.’
The Gotham actor reiterated that he was simply “trying to get the deal done.” However, he also acknowledged that Venis and Jeff both know they’re the smartest dudes in that room. That “mutual understanding” helped this final deal get made in the very end, as he said:
I think there's just an understanding of, like, ‘We're the smartest guys, we're the only ones that are able to operate at this level, in our field.’ So like, this is just how it is. And I think there's a mutual understanding, which is why they can be friends despite also maybe being murderers.
Overall, this movie ends with these bros making a deal, while still standing on some very thin ice. However, the thrill of it all and the drive for more power and wealth seem to be what is pushing both of them forward, making for a very thought-provoking and shocking finale.
Personally, I thought this final deal was a great twist in an already twisty movie, and I love it even more for it. To see what I mean, and to apply this new meaning to the film's final deal, you can go back and watch Mountainhead, one of the best movies on HBO Max, in my humble opinion, right now.
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