Close Menu
  • Login
  • Support Us
  • Newsletter
  • News
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Video Games
      • Previews
      • PC
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X/S
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Xbox One
      • PS4
      • Tabletop
    • Film
    • TV
    • Anime
    • Comics
      • BOOM! Studios
      • Dark Horse Comics
      • DC Comics
      • IDW Publishing
      • Image Comics
      • Indie Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • Oni-Lion Forge
      • Valiant Comics
      • Vault Comics
  • Podcast
  • More
    • Event Coverage
    • BWT Recommends
    • RSS Feeds
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Support Us
But Why Tho?
RSS Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube
Trending:
  • Features
    Battlefield 6 Classes - Support trailer image

    Battlefield 6 Really Wants You To Play Support (But Knows You Won’t)

    07/31/2025
    Battlefield 6 Multiplayer Reveal promotional image

    Battlefield 6 Classes, Maps, And More: Everything You Need To Know

    07/31/2025
    A glimpse at all the upcoming Star Wars stories coming to the galaxy

    Star Wars Stories: What We Learned At SDCC 2025

    07/25/2025
    Blindspot episode still

    It’s been 5 years since ‘Blindspot’ ended. Why haven’t you watched it yet?

    07/24/2025
    Strange Scaffold

    Strange Scaffold Summer Showcase Delivers Bizarre And Brilliant Games

    07/22/2025
  • Fantasia Festival
  • K-Dramas
  • Netflix
  • Switch 2 Games
But Why Tho?
Home » Film » REVIEW: ‘An Honest Life’ Is Terribly Dishonest About Its Own Politics

REVIEW: ‘An Honest Life’ Is Terribly Dishonest About Its Own Politics

Jason FlattBy Jason Flatt08/02/20254 Mins Read
Simon in An Honest Life But Why Tho
Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit WhatsApp Email

Netflix-original Swedish-language thriller, An Honest Life (Ett ärligt liv), is a terribly severe, unfun “tear down the system” movie that seems to wish you wouldn’t, actually. Simon (Simon Lööf), a law student without wealthy parents, moves in with uber-wealthy classmates who treat him like a servant. When he has a chance encounter with Max (Nora Rios), Simon falls in with her ring of anarchist burglars in a mess of a movie that neither scintillates nor makes a political point.

The movie opens in media res, with Simon at a watch shop, a woman dropping to the floor from a seizure, and a burner phone ringing to tell him to take the watches, because this is his test. It takes an hour before it’s clear what he’s being tested for, and by the time you find out, it hardly feels worth it.

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

The next thing that happens is that Simon gets caught up in a violent protest while walking home. Police mistake him for a rioter, he runs, they chase, and when he’s nearly free, he sees the cops about to attack masked vandals and shouts to warn them.

An Honest Life seems not to understand its own politics.

An Honest Life

Apparently, this warning is enough to convince those vandals, ultimately Max and her group, that Simon has some potential to become one of them. This, even though he is clearly a stoic, scared kid who has expressed no real political or moral beliefs throughout the movie, besides that rich people are obnoxious and attacking people with violence makes him uncomfortable.

There is no reason to believe that Simon is a fully-formed character. His only defining trait is that he wanted to be a writer, not a lawyer, but he never had anything exciting enough happen to him, so he gave up on writing outside of his personal diary, which is used occasionally as a narrative device for Simon to give voiceover. He’s not insightful or interesting; he’s just telling things as they are.

Max and her crew, on the other hand, have no clear motivations besides vague family trauma and a gripe against the rich. Sure, those are sympathetic descriptors, but An Honest Life does everything it can to strip them of that sympathy. They’re mean, manipulative, and constantly lying to Simon. There’s nothing ultimately likable about them, which unfortunately, actually seems to be the point.

The visuals and tone of An Honest Life are so dark and disinteresting.

An Honest Life Simon and Max

An Honest Life clearly hates leftists more than it hates the rich people they’re revolting against. The crummy rich roommates turn out to be more sympathetic than the people Simon falls in with. It’s an offensive caricature of protest and leftism. And yet, the movie still tries to get you to buy into a star-crossed romance between Max and Simon. It’s more manipulative than the criminals depicted in An Honest Life.

To make matters worse, the tone and visuals of the movie match its disinterest. Simon always looks and sounds like he’s miserable, probably because he is. But it’s deeply uninteresting to watch. The movie is ostensibly a crime thriller, yet none of the crimes are fun to watch. There’s no energy anywhere in this movie. And like most Netflix thrillers caked in severity, An Honest Life is visually dark and uninteresting to look at.

An Honest Life is not honest with itself about its own politics. It’s an anti-leftist tome masquerading inside a trite anti-rich misfire. It’s not fun to watch in its own right, but the fact that none of its characters are redeemable, despite the movie’s intentions, makes this a must-skip.

An Honest Life is streaming now on Netflix.

An Honest Life
  • 3.5/10
    Rating - 3.5/10
3.5/10

TL;DR

An Honest Life is not honest with itself about its own politics. It’s an anti-leftist tome masquerading inside a trite anti-rich misfire.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
Previous ArticleLegacy MMORPGs Aion and Lineage II Get Major Updates
Next Article REVIEW: ‘My Dress-Up Darling’ Season 2 Episode 5 — “800 Million”
Jason Flatt
  • X (Twitter)

Jason is the Sr. Editor at But Why Tho? and producer of the But Why Tho? Podcast. He's usually writing about foreign films, Jewish media, and summer camp.

Related Posts

Brandon Routh and co in Ick
9.0

REVIEW: ‘Ick’ Is A Near Perfect Horror-Comedy

07/29/2025
Bad Bunny and Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore 2
5.0

REVIEW: ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ Earns More Shrugs Than Laughs

07/29/2025
Hi-Five
6.5

FANTASIA 2025: ‘Hi-Five’ Introduces A Scrappy, Superpowered Team Up

07/28/2025
Still from Haunted Mountains The Yellow Taboo
5.5

FANTASIA 2025: ‘Haunted Mountains: The Yellow Taboo’ Gets A Little Lost In The Weeds

07/26/2025
Dakota Gorman in HELLCAT
6.5

FANTASIA 2025: ‘HELLCAT’ Runs High In Tension But Loses Steam

07/25/2025
Moon Seong-hyun and Oh Ja-jun in Fragment
9.5

FANTASIA 2025: ‘Fragment’ Is A Painful Reflection Of Youth

07/24/2025

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here
TRENDING POSTS
Wildgate promotional key art
9.0
PC

REVIEW: ‘Wildgate’ Is Co-Op Space Mayhem Done Right

By Adrian Ruiz07/25/2025Updated:07/30/2025

Built for friends and tuned for competition, Wildgate is messy in the best way: smart, surprising, and bursting with room to grow.

Glass Heart
7.0
TV

REVIEW: ‘Glass Heart’ Offers Messy, Musical Catharsis

By Allyson Johnson07/22/2025

The musical drama series ‘Glass Heart’ soars when it focuses on the epic performances of it’s fictional band, TENBLANK.

Simon in An Honest Life But Why Tho
3.5
Film

REVIEW: ‘An Honest Life’ Is Terribly Dishonest About Its Own Politics

By Jason Flatt08/02/2025

An Honest Life is an overly severe misfire about a law student who falls in with anarchist burglars that can’t decide who it resents more.

World of Warcraft The War Within Ghosts of Karesh But Why Tho Interviews

‘The War Within’ Patch 11.2 Addresses Raid Trash, Magic-Focused Comps, And More

By Mick Abrahamson07/31/2025Updated:07/31/2025

WoW Sr. Producer and Asst. Lead Quest Designer address The War Within 11.2’s Manaforge Omega, Reshii Wrap rewards, and Mythic+ balancing.

But Why Tho?
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest RSS YouTube Twitch
  • CONTACT US
  • ABOUT US
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
  • Review Score Guide
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small contribution.
Written Content is Copyright © 2025 But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

But Why Tho Logo

Support Us!

We're able to keep making content thanks to readers like YOU!
Support independent media today with
Click Here