Clean Hands Review: Zach Braff is a cop on a crusade to save his drug-addicted daughter in this gritty true-life crime drama.

There is always the danger of hagiography when a filmmaker tells a story based on true events, especially events that are inspirational or heroic. "Clean Hands" is a movie where the storytellers either take too much license from a real person's life to add drama, or they don't seem to realize how unpleasant their subject's behavior is.

Jake Allyn's film tells the story of Kevin Simmers, a real-life narcotics officer whose professional and personal life is disrupted by his teenage daughter Brooke's heroin addiction.

When a filmmaker tells a story based on true events, especially events that are inspirational or heroic, there is always the risk of hagiography. "Clean Hands" is a movie where the storytellers either take too much license with a real person's life to add drama, or they don't seem to realize how unpleasant their subject's behavior really is. Written, produced and directed by Jake Allin ("The Rider"), the film follows the relationship between Haggerston, MD narcotics officer Kevin Simmers (Zach Braff) and his efforts to rescue his daughter Brooke (Esther McGregor) from the clutches of drug abuse. But while the details of "the incident right under her nose" add a poignant edge to a familiarly tragic tale, the script's argument against the criminalization of addiction is reconciled with a depiction of Simmers' determination to save Brooke by any means necessary. RELATED STORIES What's New on Netflix in October 2026 'Sesame Street' on Netflix, Plus 'Gabby's Dollhouse' Spinoff and 'K-Pop Devil Hunters'

Simmers is a heroic cop whose colleagues look up to him and, given his by-the-book approach, love him more than the townspeople expect. Although he has a close relationship with 19-year-old Brooke, when he learns she is addicted to Percocet, he is in cahoots with abusive salesman Brick (Craig Dean). After unsuccessfully trying to enroll him in a private rehab facility, Simmers discovers that he has turned to heroin. He takes a hard-line approach to allowing her to be captured, hoping to intimidate her directly. But when he fails even that, he becomes determined to cut off his supply at the source, hunting down local drug addicts in hopes of catching anyone who might be buying his drugs. Popular in Variety

Despite the support of his religious wife Dana (Abigail Spencer) and his colleagues on the police force, including an ambitious deputy (Lucas Thiel) who is eager to succeed him as the precinct's role model, Simmers' efforts to help clean up Brooke fail time and time again. As he faces the prospect of losing him to addiction, he begins to imagine an alternative path to combating drug abusers, even as he witnesses members of Hagerstown's community—including some of his fellow officers—exploit addicts instead of helping them.

Judging by the blurb pasted above the end credits for Brook House, the rehab center Simmers created in response to his daughter's addiction, it's safe to assume the former police officer fully endorsed this depiction of his and his family's struggles. However, the usual disclaimer that absolves the filmmakers of their responsibility for dramatizing the lives of these real people is strangely written at the beginning of the end credits rather than at the very beginning. In the end, it suggests that some of the filmmakers' narrative leaps here are larger than usual. To that end, it's understandable why Allen wouldn't want to risk misrepresenting Hagerstown law enforcement. But should the audience take every action Simmers takes in his crusade to save his daughter at face value?

By all accounts, he was a dedicated cop with outstanding instincts as an investigator and a loving father figure to Brooke—so much so that in the film, Dana accuses the two of being addicted to each other. But the character's compassion for criminals and his cool detachment under duress seem to apply only when he has no active part in the crime. When he does, he seems willing to abuse his power and take whatever action he thinks will lead to whatever outcome he's already decided on — whether it's lying to a health care provider to get his daughter's treatment, or arresting someone he suspects is complicit in Brooke's situation.

As the film tells, Simmers eventually learns that a war against society's dealers and enablers has less effect on addicts than providing them with constant, patient, loving support. But this character has been so relentless in his ways for so long that he can't be blamed for Brooke's addiction.

Again, it seems very similar to the point (or at least a point) of "clean hands". But Aline is totally into Simmers' police work, meaning intense chases and intense interrogations, to strike the right balance between her day job and her serious efforts to help her daughter. As a viewer, you might forgive a character who is so determined to protect his daughter that he takes drastic or inappropriate actions, but when the film wants to be a tense and exciting crime spree—enhanced by the instrumental rock score of "Those Who Ride With Giants"—it undermines the humanity of what that character faces.

Simmers represents a departure from the kinds of roles that Braff is best known for, and the actor commits to the character's toughness and determination in a way that suggests he either prioritizes authenticity regardless of how the character is perceived, or that he doesn't understand how sympathetic Allyn's version of Simmers can be. The problem lies in the contrast between her benevolent actions and their effect on others: Brooke gets beaten up in prison because her father antagonizes the guards and other inmates, the God-fearing wiseguy cringes every time she drops an F-bomb or angrily dresses up as a rehab director, and cuts to the last scene or adds a sequence in the film. Disappointing everyone he meets and fighting.

McGregor offers a pleasant balance as Brooke, whose overall mood stems from her relationship with her father, even with the problems the script subtly outlines. Although the film doesn't quite know what to do with Dana as Simmers bulldozes her way into Brooke's cure, Spencer similarly offers a favor — or at least a less rigid form of support — that shows how her initial way of helping might not be the most effective.

However accurate the story is told, Zimmers certainly did his best to calculate the challenge he faced in the line of duty, but never with someone close to him—and years of repeating the same response to an ordeal reinforced that it must be dealt with individually. But the film builds on the foundation of Brooke's House and its immediate, runaway success, suggesting that all Zimmers had to do was change his tactics, rather than make a more meaningful and moving shift in his perception of addiction as something to be fixed mechanically. Aside from a handful of compelling performances, "Clean Hands" ignores much of the dirty reality and settles for quick fixes. What gives a true story like this its power is the hard work and struggle that happens between revelation about yourself and the reality of implementing its lessons in the world.