Life Hack

I think everyone dreams about being rich. It feels like money opens the door to a better life—or at least that’s how it looks from the outside. How many times have you sat around with friends having those “if I won the lottery” conversations? You talk about buying your parents a house, quitting your job, or traveling the world forever. For some people, though, those fantasies aren’t about winning the lottery—they’re about stealing from the people who already have too much money. Let’s be honest, that’s part of why we love heist movies. We get to watch people do the things we’d only joke about doing ourselves. Ronan Corrigan’s Life Hack isn’t just another heist movie—it’s a really good heist movie, and for its characters, crime looks a lot more exciting than a winning lottery ticket.

The story follows a group of teenage online friends who spend most of their time gaming, chatting, and bragging about their small internet exploits. The group includes Kyle (Georgie Farmer), Sid (Roman Hayeck-Green), Petey (James Scholz), and Alex (Yasmin Finney), and for the most part, their activities are harmless fun. That changes when Kyle gets the idea to target billionaire Don Heard (Charlie Creed-Miles). Looking for a way in, they focus on his daughter Lindsey (Jessica Reynolds), and before long, they pull off something surprisingly successful—they steal cryptocurrency.

Like anything that feels good, though, it quickly becomes addictive. The group starts living it up, leaning into the skills they all bring to the table. But consequences eventually catch up to them when Lindsey figures out who’s behind the theft. Instead of turning them in, she proposes something even crazier: helping her steal a much larger chunk of her father’s fortune. Most of the group reluctantly agrees, and suddenly they’re involved in a job that pushes all of their abilities to the limit.

Written by Hope Elliott Kemp and Ronan Corrigan, who also directs, Life Hack tells almost its entire story through computer screens and phones. While “screenlife” movies have been around for a bit now, this is one of the first to really use that format for a full-on heist film, and Corrigan keeps things moving at a fast pace. The movie jumps between browsers, chats, cameras, and screens in a way that stays surprisingly engaging. Out of the films that have used this format, Life Hack is definitely one of the better examples.

What makes the movie work so well is how effectively it turns everyday technology into a tense and entertaining thriller. There’s a real energy to it, and the film captures the feeling of online friendships in a way that feels genuine instead of forced. My biggest issue with the movie is the opening scene, which hints too heavily at where things are headed and takes away some of the tension along the way.

The cast, though, is the real heartbeat of the film. Their chemistry feels natural, like an actual group of friends who just happen to be caught up in something way over their heads. That authenticity helps ground the movie, even as things spiral further out of control.

Even with its flaws, Life Hack is a slick, entertaining experience that never feels passive. It keeps you engaged the whole way through, and by the end, you might even start thinking about changing a few of your passwords.

Brian Taylor

Member of the North Texas Film Critics Association, and lover of all things Cinema