There are crime dramas built around arrests, investigations and the pursuit of criminals. Clean Hands takes that familiar territory somewhere much more personal. Its central conflict begins when the battle against drugs reaches the home of the very police officer who has spent his career fighting them.
The newly released Clean Hands Official Trailer from Vertical introduces Zach Braff as Sergeant Kevin Simmers, a Hagerstown, Maryland narcotics officer whose professional mission collides with his role as a father. His 19-year-old daughter Brooke, played by Esther McGregor, is struggling with an escalating addiction that changes the meaning of everything Kevin believes about law enforcement, accountability and recovery.
Directed and written by Jake Allyn, Clean Hands is based on the true story of Kevin Simmers and his daughter Brooke. The film premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Festival before Vertical acquired North American distribution rights. The movie is scheduled for a limited theatrical and digital release on October 16, 2026.
A Police Officer Confronts the Crisis Inside His Own Family
At the heart of Clean Hands is a contradiction that gives the film its dramatic weight. Kevin is introduced as a determined narcotics officer working to remove drugs from the streets of Hagerstown. Yet his daughter is becoming trapped by the same crisis he has spent years trying to stop.
The trailer moves between Kevin’s professional world and his relationship with Brooke, creating an increasingly uncomfortable contrast. At work, he approaches drug enforcement through procedure and evidence. At home, he is simply a father trying to keep his daughter alive.
That shift gives the film a broader question to explore: What happens when a person’s professional beliefs collide with the most personal crisis imaginable?
Rather than using addiction solely as a crime-story device, the trailer suggests that Clean Hands explores its emotional consequences and the complicated path toward recovery. The official synopsis says Kevin must confront the failures of the system he dedicated his life to defending.
Zach Braff Takes on a Dramatic Role
For Zach Braff, best known for Scrubs, Garden State and a range of comedy and drama projects, Clean Hands represents another emotionally demanding dramatic performance.
As Kevin Simmers, Braff has to play a character caught between authority and helplessness. The trailer shows a man who can confront drug dealers and suspects in the street but cannot simply arrest the problem when it appears inside his own family.
That distinction could become one of the movie’s most compelling elements.
Esther McGregor plays Brooke, giving the story its other central perspective. Her performance places the audience alongside a young woman whose addiction becomes increasingly difficult for her family to understand or control. The cast also includes Abigail Spencer, Holt McCallany and Lucas Till.
The Real Story Behind Clean Hands
The real-world foundation of Clean Hands adds considerable context to the film.
The story connects to Brooke’s House, a women’s recovery organization in Hagerstown that the real Kevin Simmers created after his daughter’s death. According to Brooke’s House, the organization provides women struggling with substance use with a safe place to recover and rebuild their lives.
The production also involved people connected to the recovery community. Brooke’s House says the filmmakers cast graduates of its program in the movie and gave women in recovery opportunities to learn film-production skills during filming.
That connection between the movie and the real organization gives Clean Hands a dimension beyond conventional crime drama. The film is not simply adapting a headline; it is drawing from a real family’s experience and the recovery work that emerged from it.
A Story About More Than the War on Drugs
The trailer’s strongest hook may ultimately be its emotional contradiction: Kevin believes he is fighting a war against drugs, but his daughter’s addiction forces him to examine what that fight actually means.
The story therefore sits at the intersection of crime drama, family drama, addiction awareness and true-story filmmaking. It also creates room for conversations about the relationship between enforcement and treatment without reducing the issue to a simple answer.
That makes Clean Hands particularly relevant for viewers interested in films that connect personal stories with larger social issues.
The film runs approximately 1 hour and 48 minutes and is classified as a crime drama.
Clean Hands Release Date and What to Expect
Clean Hands is set for release on October 16, 2026, with Vertical handling its North American distribution. It follows its June 2026 world premiere at the Tribeca Festival.
The newly released trailer establishes a serious, emotionally grounded tone rather than presenting the movie as a conventional police thriller. Its strongest selling point is the collision between Kevin’s professional identity and his responsibility as a father.
For audiences interested in Zach Braff’s dramatic roles, Esther McGregor’s emerging film career, true-story movies about addiction, emotional crime dramas and socially relevant independent cinema, Clean Hands is a title worth watching as its October release approaches.
Final Thought
Clean Hands appears to be using a familiar crime-drama framework to tell a much more intimate story about family, addiction and the limits of simply fighting a problem from the outside. By placing a narcotics officer on the other side of the crisis, Jake Allyn’s film creates an unusually personal perspective on a subject that continues to affect families and communities.
The trailer makes one thing clear: this is not only a story about fighting drugs it is a story about fighting for someone you love.
SOURCE: Vertical, IMDB, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Rotten Tomatoes
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