Cody Parsons is not winning his war on drugs. He is barely holding the line. That is the whole point of Union County, Adam Meeks’ drama about a rural Ohio man assigned to a county-mandated drug court program during the opioid epidemic. The film does not soften Cody’s fight. It does not romanticize it. It just sits with him as he tries to keep from falling back, one day at a time.
Will Poulter plays Cody with a kind of grim patience that keeps the film from tipping into melodrama. His performance is the engine here. Cody is not a hero. He is a man who has lost everything and is afraid he will lose his one chance to get it back. That fear drives every scene, and Poulter carries it with a stillness that makes the drama land harder than any scream or confession would.
Trailer, via Oscilloscope Laboratories.
Cody’s Case
Cody is assigned to the program after a run of failed attempts at recovery. The film does not waste time on the mechanics of his addiction. It is simply there, a fact of his life. What Union County is interested in is the work of recovery itself — the meetings, the check-ins, the small victories and the big betrayals. Cody is not looking for a fix. He is looking for a way to stop being a problem.
Meeks, who wrote and directed the film, keeps the story close to the ground. There are no grand speeches about addiction. There is no abstract talk about the epidemic. Cody’s struggle is personal, and the film keeps it that way. The drug court is a structure, not a character, but it gives the film its shape. The rules are strict, the stakes are high, and Cody knows that one slip could get him sent to prison.
Jack and Katrina
Noah Centineo plays Jack, Cody’s sponsor and fellow addict. Jack has been sober for a while, but he is still carrying the weight of his own past. He is the kind of person Cody can relate to, a man who has been through the system and come out the other side. Their scenes together are the best in the film. Jack is not a saint. He is a survivor, and that makes him a more useful friend than any kind of moral authority ever could be.
Emily Meade plays Katrina, Cody’s girlfriend and mother to his young daughter. Katrina is the film’s most complicated character. She loves Cody but cannot trust him, and her fear keeps pushing him away. Katrina is not a villain. She is a woman doing the best she can with a broken man and a broken system. Meade plays her with a mix of tenderness and anger that makes her scenes crackle.
Elise Kibler plays Anna, a young woman in the program who has her own demons. Anna is a foil for Cody. She is younger, her addiction is newer, but her pain is just as deep. Anna’s scenes give the film its emotional texture. She is not a side character. She is a person, and the film treats her that way.
Jim and Judge Braig
Danny Wolohan plays Jim, a counselor who runs the drug court. Jim is not a caricature. He is a man who has seen this all before, and he knows that most of the people in the room will not make it. His scenes are quiet. He does not lecture. He listens, and sometimes he pushes. Wolohan plays him with a steady authority that grounds the film.
Kevin P. Braig plays Judge Braig. He is the figure of authority, the one who decides who stays and who goes. He is not a villain. He is a man who believes the system works, even when he can see that it often fails. Braig’s scenes are the film’s moments of tension. A single sentence from him can send Cody into a panic.
The Weight of the Story
Union County is not a film about the opioid epidemic. It is a film about one man trying to stop being defined by it. That is a smaller story, but it is a truer one. The film does not try to explain the epidemic. It just shows its effects on one person’s life. Cody is not a statistic. He is a person with a name, a history, a family, and a fear that he will never get them back.
The film’s tone is plain and often hard to watch. There is no music to soften the pain. There are no scenes of triumph that feel earned. Cody’s progress is slow, and the film does not pretend otherwise. It is a bleak picture, but it is a honest one. The film’s strength is its refusal to be sentimental. Cody’s struggle is not noble. It is exhausting, and it is personal.
The Strength of the Performances
The cast is a strength of the film. Poulter is the lead, and he carries the weight of the entire picture. Centineo and Kibler give him strong support, and Wolohan and Braig keep the world around Cody grounded in a way that makes the drama feel real.
Meade directs with a sure hand. He knows when to hold back and when to push. The film is not flashy. It is a character study, and Meade treats it as such. He does not make Cody’s story bigger than it is. He makes it more intimate.
A Narrow but Solid Film
Union County is a small film with a large subject. It does not try to be more than it is. It is a drama about one man trying to stop being defined by his addiction. It is not a story about the opioid epidemic. It is a story about one person who has lived through it.
The film’s weakness is its narrowness. It is a drama about recovery, and it does not stray beyond that. There is no wider social commentary. There is no look at the system or its failures. The film stays with Cody, and that is its strength and its limit. Some viewers will find this limiting. Some will find it necessary.
The Numbers and the Bottom Line
- Runtime: 97 minutes
- Release: August 14, 2026
- Rating: NR
- Metacritic: 72/100
- Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
The film’s critical reception has been strong. The 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes reflects a widespread view that Union County is a serious, well-executed drama. The 72/100 Metacritic score reflects a more measured assessment, and both scores are on the board.
The film has earned a modest box office total of $182,322. That number reflects a narrow audience for this kind of drama. It is not a failure. It is a sign of a film that has reached the people who want to see it, without the hype or the marketing that pushes bigger numbers.
The film’s audience score on TMDB sits at 6.5/10 from 6 votes. That is a fair number. It is not a masterpiece, but it is a solid piece of work. The film does not demand a perfect score. It demands a fair look at what it does well.
The Verdict
Union County is a small, honest film about a big subject. It does not oversell its story. It does not oversell its characters. It simply sits with Cody as he tries to rebuild his life.
The film’s strength is its refusal to be sentimental. Cody’s struggle is not noble. It is exhausting, and it is personal. The film’s weakness is its narrowness. It is a drama about recovery, and it does not stray beyond that.
The film’s performances are strong. Poulter is the lead, and he carries the weight of the entire picture. Centineo and Kibler give him strong support, and Wolohan and Braig keep the world around Cody grounded in a way that makes the drama feel real.
The film is worth seeing. It is a serious, well-made drama that respects its subject and its audience. It is not a film for everyone. It is a film for people who want to see a story told with truth. That is a rare thing in the movies, and Union County delivers it.
The film earns a 7.2/10.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
