$POSITIONS Review: Crypto Fever Dream

$POSITIONS takes the anxiety of a Safdie Brothers movie and places it into the hands of a crypto gambler with the world’s worst luck.

$POSITIONS capitalises on this with a rash, stupid, and downright unlikable main character who goes through the ‘it’s so over / we’re so back’ meme seemingly every 5 minutes, creating an anxiety-fuelled fever dream that verges on ridiculous at times.

Midwest worker Mike (Michael Kunicki) is grieving the death of his mother whilst worrying about his father and looking after his brother Vinny (Vinny Kress), who has learning difficulties. When he hits big in the crypto market, he spontaneously quits his job and tells his longtime girlfriend, Charlene (Kaylyn Carter), that he wants an open relationship. As his crypto wallet fluctuates in any given minute from virtually broke to incredibly rich, Mike makes an increasing number of rash decisions with the help of his recently paroled and former heroin addict cousin, Travis (Trevor Dawkins, of All Jacked Up and Full of Worms).

The first act of $POSITIONS is outstanding, with a brilliant set-up of the relationship between Mike and Vinny, and Mike’s obsession with the crypto market. There’s a memorably hilarious scene where Vinny eats all of the packed lunches of the office where Mike works, which sticks out as a well-written joke.

The film works well at taking the concept of an anxiety movie and making it more comedic, but there are moments of the narrative that take things too far and become just plain ridiculous. There’s a urine drinking scene that feels more like something you might find in a Seth Rogen movie, and the ongoing joke that Mike cannot maintain an erection doesn’t really add much to the character or the plot. As the narrative tries to one-up itself with the more insane plot points, the more the energy of the film suffers.

The reason why the anxiety-fueled Safdie Brothers movies are more digestible is that you want to root for their lead characters despite all of the crazy shenanigans they go through. You don’t feel the same endearing love for Mike as you do for Marty Supreme’s Marty Mauser because Mike is embarrassingly stupid and reckless toward a goal that doesn’t even feel real, as the film repeatedly shows his crypto wallet going up and down. He has a touching relationship with Vinny, but it isn’t quite as good as the relationship it’s based on in Good Time. As a result, his crazy decision-making just makes you feel exhausted rather than exhilarated. 

This is filmmaker Brandon Daley’s debut feature, and it is certainly well shot and sharply cut, with a breezy 97-minute runtime. You can see that Daley is taking his influences and transporting them to this more rural Midwestern world that juxtaposes itself with the hi-tech world of crypto. By choosing to fill his film with complete unknown actors, there is a large variation between brilliant natural performances and some more clunky amateur portrayals. Whatever Daley decides to do next will be incredibly interesting as he hones his ability to balance drama and comedy.

$POSITIONS is an anxious ride that doesn’t lift its foot off the gas pedal, but lacks the stronger characters and drama/comedy balance to rise above the influences. The narrative is too scattershot, and Mike’s decision-making is too erratic for an audience member to want to root for the guy. 

$POSITIONS will available to watch on digital platforms from May 12, 2026.