Colleen Hoover has become one of the biggest names in contemporary fiction, and her books are quickly becoming a regular fixture on the big screen.
Following “It Ends With Us,” “Reminders of Him,” and “Regretting You,” her 2018 psychological thriller “Verity” is the latest to get the Hollywood treatment. This time, though, we’re moving away from Hoover’s more familiar romantic drama territory and into something much darker, with Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett leading the cast.
- Rating: 2.5/5 stars
- Verdict: “Verity” has plenty of juicy drama, a suitably creepy setting and enough mystery to keep things moving, particularly in its first half. But the increasingly messy plot, questionable logic and underwhelming ending make it hard to fully invest. It’s an entertaining enough watch, but ultimately feels like a missed opportunity for something much more twisted.
- Where to watch: "Verity" is now in theaters
“Verity” follows struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh (Johnson), who is hired to finish the bestselling book series of acclaimed author Verity Crawford (Hathaway) after an accident leaves her unable to write.
Lowen moves into Verity’s home with her husband Jeremy (Hartnett), where she starts going through the author’s unfinished work. But she soon discovers a disturbing manuscript containing deeply personal revelations about Verity, her family and what really happened behind the walls of their home.
There’s an obvious appeal to a movie like “Verity” for someone who loves a good mystery, especially when you throw in a creepy house, a complicated marriage and a manuscript that may or may not be telling the truth. I should also point out that I haven’t read Hoover’s novel, which might actually be a good thing for this particular review.
The movie apparently makes some notable changes to the source material, so I came into it without any expectations about what should or shouldn’t be there. Instead, I could simply judge “Verity” on its own merits and see whether all those secrets and twists actually make for a satisfying thriller.
‘Verity’ delivers the drama, but not quite the thriller I wanted
From the very start, “Verity” has a slightly jarring quality to it. The movie opens with Verity being interviewed in her home, talking about her family and the sacrifices she made as a writer. It’s an intriguing setup, but after barely a minute, we’re suddenly transported years into the future.
There’s also an early scene involving Lowen witnessing something deeply traumatic that felt oddly placed within the story. Knowing that this moment also features in the book left me even more confused about its purpose, because the movie never quite makes it feel like a meaningful part of her journey. Thankfully, “Verity” doesn’t take long to get to the juicy stuff, and once Lowen arrives at the Crawford house, things become considerably more interesting.
The house is easily one of the movie’s biggest strengths. It’s beautiful, but there’s something distinctly haunting about it, and the setting does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to creating an uneasy atmosphere.
For much of the first half, “Verity” manages to build a lingering sense that something is very wrong, even when you can’t quite put your finger on it. The central trio of Johnson, Hathaway and Hartnett are also more than capable of carrying the story. Hathaway, in particular, brings a sinister quality to Verity that makes you question exactly what she’s capable of. Still, none of the performances give the movie quite the spark it needs to elevate the material.
There’s certainly no shortage of drama either. “Verity” leans into the more erotic side of Hoover’s story, with plenty of steamy moments adding more fuel to the increasingly complicated relationship between Lowen and Jeremy. From what I understand, the movie turns up the eroticism compared with the book, and it certainly embraces the more provocative side of the story.
That works reasonably well alongside the mystery, because there’s always another secret waiting around the corner. For all its flaws, I can’t deny that the first half kept me intrigued. I genuinely wanted to know what was going on and, more importantly, which character I should be siding with.
Unfortunately, the further “Verity” goes, the more the cracks begin to show. I kept noticing increasingly obvious plot holes, particularly towards the ending, and I can’t get into the specifics without spoiling some of the movie’s biggest reveals. Even the nanny’s role in the Crawford household left me with questions, while the way everything eventually wraps up felt confusing.
There’s enough here for a fun, slightly ridiculous watch when you want to switch your brain off, and the atmosphere is often effective, but I never found myself completely invested in the mystery. Not to mention Verity’s appearances on real-life shows like “Call Her Daddy” and “Hot Ones” take some of the seriousness out of the story.
Verdict: ‘Verity’ is spicy, strange and ultimately unsatisfying
For all the scandalous secrets and messy relationships packed into “Verity,” I was surprised by just how flat the movie could feel. There are moments when the story gets so ridiculous that I found myself wishing it would simply embrace the chaos and go completely off the rails.
Instead, it keeps one foot firmly planted in what feels like a much safer thriller, which makes some of its more outrageous moments land with even less impact. That’s a shame because there is a genuinely entertaining movie hiding somewhere inside the film.
A sharper script and a little more willingness to get weird with the material could have turned this into the kind of gloriously twisted thriller that you can’t stop talking about.
I’d still recommend it for Hathaway’s sinister performance, the undeniable steaminess and an atmosphere that occasionally gets under your skin, but “Verity” ultimately feels like a missed opportunity. It has the right ingredients for a seriously compelling thriller, but it never quite figures out how to put them together.
"Verity" is now in theaters
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