Nickels is a drama-thriller with supernatural elements that attempts to combine themes of death, grief, and loss with a mystery surrounding the possibility of an afterlife. Directed by Spencer King and featuring solid performances from Rob Riggle and Aaron Holliday, the film has a premise with plenty of potential. Unfortunately, Nickels never quite manages to make the most of it. The film is neither bad nor particularly unpleasant to watch, but it lacks the depth, suspense, and emotional impact needed to leave a lasting impression.
What Is Nickels (2026) About?
In Nickels, we follow Tom Monroe (Rob Riggle), a successful businessman and family man who has never fully recovered from the death of his older brother. His brother died in a motorcycle accident decades earlier. When Mitch Diller (Aaron Holliday), the son of his neighbor, becomes involved in a similar accident years later, Tom begins to suspect that the spirit of his deceased brother may have returned.
What follows is a search for answers that affects not only Tom's own life but also puts a strain on his relationship with his wife and daughter. Along the way, the film attempts to explore questions of faith, loss, and the possibility of moving forward after a tragic event.
On paper, the premise is interesting enough. A personal tragedy that resurfaces decades later offers plenty of opportunities for an emotionally compelling drama or a mysterious story with supernatural elements. Unfortunately, bringing these different components together in a convincing way proves to be more difficult than expected.
Nickels Lacks Thematic Depth
The biggest problem with Nickels is that it does too little with the themes it introduces. Death and grief lie at the heart of the story, yet neither is explored particularly well. The film gives the impression that it wants to say something meaningful about dealing with loss, without giving those ideas enough room to develop.
That is a shame, because these subjects are perfectly suited to a film that wants to offer more than a straightforward narrative. Grief affects people in different ways and can have consequences that remain with them for years. Nickels touches on these ideas but fails to explore them deeply enough to create a genuinely compelling drama.
As a result, the film lacks emotional impact. There are moments when it clearly tries to strike an emotional chord, but those moments do not always land as intended. The characters face events that should have profound consequences for their lives, yet the film does not consistently make those consequences feel convincing or emotionally significant.
Ultimately, Nickels is a film that talks about serious subjects without having much of interest to say about them.
A Film That Cannot Decide Which Direction to Take
Beyond its lack of depth, one of the biggest problems with Nickels is its unclear identity. The film moves between drama and supernatural thriller but never fully embraces either direction.
As a drama, it lacks the emotional depth needed to make a convincing impression. The events and relationships should provide enough material for a moving story, but the execution remains too superficial. There is no sufficiently clear progression that brings the different storylines together and allows the characters to develop in meaningful ways.
As a supernatural thriller, it is equally unsuccessful. The supernatural elements offer opportunities to create suspense, uncertainty, and mystery, but Nickels does not do enough with them. The film raises questions without building enough tension to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
This leaves the film in an awkward middle ground. It is not dramatic enough to truly move you, nor is it mysterious enough to keep you constantly wondering what is really happening. As a result, you are often left waiting for a development that will finally give the story some direction and meaning.
Unconvincing Decisions and Dialogue Undermine the Drama
The way the characters behave does not always work in the film's favor either. Although the characters themselves are reasonably interesting, they frequently make decisions that are difficult to understand. Some of their reactions feel unnatural and do not quite fit the seriousness of the situations they find themselves in.
The dialogue suffers from similar problems. Not every conversation feels believable, and certain lines seem designed primarily to push the story in a particular direction. Consequently, the characters sometimes react in ways that feel contrived rather than human.
This, in turn, affects the drama. When you do not fully understand why someone makes a particular decision, it becomes harder to care about the consequences. Even when a situation should be emotionally devastating, its impact can be diminished because the events leading up to it are not convincing enough.
That does not mean every decision or line of dialogue needs to be realistic for a film to work. However, the audience should feel that the characters act according to recognizable motivations and emotions. This is an area in which Nickels repeatedly falls short.
The Ending Takes the Easy Way Out
Without giving too much away, the way Nickels handles its mysteries is another missed opportunity. Ultimately, the film chooses not to explain certain things. Of course, that can be a deliberate creative decision. Not every mystery needs a definitive answer, and sometimes leaving room for interpretation is precisely what makes a film interesting.
The problem is that Nickels does not do enough to make this approach work. When a film raises questions throughout its runtime, you expect the eventual payoff to address them in an interesting way. That does not mean every detail needs to be explained explicitly, but there should be something meaningful to compensate for the uncertainty.
In Nickels, the decision feels more like an easy way out. Rather than exploring the more complicated questions or offering a meaningful interpretation, the film simply leaves several things unresolved.
In a way, this is also the safest option. By refusing to provide clear answers, the film avoids committing to a specific explanation. However, the result is a story that feels less satisfying than it could have been. An ambiguous ending can be powerful, but only when the uncertainty adds something to the experience. Here, it mainly feels like another missed opportunity.
Nickels Is a Little Too Long
With a runtime of approximately 102 minutes, Nickels also feels slightly too long for the story it wants to tell. There is enough material here to create an engaging drama, but not everything contributes equally to the narrative.
The film particularly begins to drag as it approaches its conclusion. Some scenes continue longer than necessary, while the developments do not always provide enough forward momentum to justify the additional runtime. As a result, audience engagement gradually begins to fade.
A tighter edit that cut approximately 20 minutes would probably have benefited the film considerably. With a more focused pace and greater emphasis on the most important characters and story elements, Nickels could have been a stronger experience. Its central ideas would have had more room to resonate without the narrative feeling as though it spends too much time treading water.
This is especially frustrating because the premise offers plenty of possibilities. A more concise film might have given its emotional moments greater weight while making the mystery more effective.
The Cast Helps Keep Nickels Afloat
Fortunately, not everything about Nickels is problematic. The characters are reasonably likable, and the acting is generally decent. Rob Riggle is tasked with portraying a man who has spent years struggling with a personal loss. He serves as the story's central emotional anchor.
Aaron Holliday also contributes to the film as Mitch Diller. The dynamic between the different characters provides enough material to maintain some interest in what happens, even when the screenplay does not always make the most of it.
The performances are not consistently impressive, but they are rarely the reason the film falls short. The cast generally does what is expected of them. The main problems lie in the material they are given: the dialogue, the sometimes questionable decisions, and the lack of a clearly developed thematic direction.
With a stronger screenplay, this cast could probably have done more with the story.
Conclusion: Nickels Is Competent but Lacks Impact
Ultimately, Nickels is a film that is difficult to call outright bad, but it also does too little to earn a strong recommendation. The premise is interesting, the characters are reasonably likable, and the acting is good enough to keep the film afloat. However, its potential is never fully realized.
The lack of depth surrounding death and grief, the unclear balance between drama and supernatural thriller, and the sometimes unconvincing decisions made by the characters prevent the story from fully coming together. On top of that, the film does too little with its mysteries and feels unnecessarily long as it approaches the finish line.
That does not make Nickels an unpleasant viewing experience. There are enough positive elements to prevent it from completely falling apart, but there are too few moments when everything truly comes together. The film struggles to deliver an emotional punch, fails to make its mystery particularly compelling, and ultimately leaves you wondering what it could have been.
A shorter runtime, more convincingly written characters, and a deeper exploration of its central themes could have made a considerable difference.
Rating: 6/10
