By Jacob Cameron

LifeHack is the latest film in the “screenlife” subgenre. This is a subgenre that has become popular in recent years. This particular film comes from the same producers as Searching and Missing. This is a film that fits right in with the great quality of those two films.

LifeHack was directed by Ronan Corrigan; this is his directorial debut. This was co-produced by Timur Bekmembatov, producer of the aforementioned Searching and Missing. It tells the story of four teenagers who, on a whim, decide to pull a seemingly harmless stunt. Steal a sizable amount of cryptocurrency from the crypto wallet of a tech billionaire. The heist is successful; however, things promptly turn south for the quartet.

All four main actors turn in good performances here. The standout is Kyle, played by Georgie Farmer, who gets the most screen time. Kyle is the catalyst for starting the talk about the heist and is the leader of this team. One of the positives of the film is how realistic the movie feels. There is a great deal of elements in the film that are scarily relevant nowadays.

Lets talk about how legitimate the crypto industry is, how safe we really are online, and how the internet really affects the psyche of these teenagers is front and center in the film. Unlike other “screenlife” films, this is a heist film. There is a great deal of missing DNA running through the film. But there is more than enough of a compelling story to make any comparisons between the two films minimal.

Another positive aspect of the film is just how thrilling the heist is. Every aspect of the heist must be done on the teenagers’ computers. With a strenuous amount of hacking, there is so much that could go wrong. And, without spoiling plot elements, things do go wrong. It is up to these teens to think on the fly and improvise as their plans go up in smoke. 

Additional praise should be given to Charlie Creed-Miles, who plays the billionaire Don Heard, who the teens rob. The initial robbery is just the beginning; upon peeling back the layers, it is quickly revealed that Heard has secrets. Again, without spoiling much, this is a scarily relevant piece of the movie as well. There are not so many skeletons in a closet but skeletons in a mass grave. Creed-Miles, a longtime character actor, sells the desperation well. Heard could’ve easily been an Elon Musk clone; but there’s more to the character than just that aspect.

At the end of the day, this is one of the most pleasant surprises of the year. This is a film that is a thrilling heist film that doesn’t overstay its welcome. It takes the concepts of Missing or Searching and places them in a heist film context to great success. The film is like Missing crossed over with Tower Heist or Logan Lucky. This is a true hidden gem of 2026 and it should be sought out.

4 1/2 stars