Verity, 2026.
Directed by Michael Showalter.
Starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett, Brady Wagner, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Irina Dvorovenko, Sienna Kulovitz, K.K. Moggie, Tom Galantich, Lou Martini Jr., Michael Abbott Jr., Clark Carmichael, Emily McEnroe, Luke Klein, Tanya Lim, Colleen Hoover, Gayle King, Alex Cooper, and Sean Evans.
SYNOPSIS:
Lowen Ashleigh, hired to ghostwrite for Verity Crawford, uncovers what appears to be Verity’s autobiographical notes. She wrestles with the confessions about Verity’s husband and finds separating fiction from reality challenging
Given its premise and inevitable twisty conclusion, director Michael Showalter’s Verity (working from a screenplay by Nick Antosca, based on the book by Colleen Hoover, which should be noted is another genre compared to her romantic drama works, although not without thematic similarities) is neither trashy nor cinematic enough to sustain its loaded intrigue.
That’s also not what one wants to say about a movie that begins with Dakota Johnson’s aspiring mystery novelist Lowen Ashleigh hilariously stained in blood splatter from a fatal accident prior to crossing a crowded street. This also makes for a demented take on a meet-cute with Josh Hartnett’s Jeremy Crawford, soon revealed to be the husband of celebrated thriller author Verity Crawford. Played by Anne Hathaway and touted as an unspeakably bold writer daring enough to plunge into the darkest recesses of her mind and tell stories from the perspective of the villain, one can already imagine quotes or trailers (if such a thing existed for novels) proclaiming “from the sick and twisted mind of Verity”, at least until passages are narrated or depicted as flashbacks, in which one can tell that it’s all trying too hard to be edgy and that the real Colleen Hoover most likely isn’t popular based on the strength of her voice or style, but rather baby’s first provocation.
As for Lowen, delivered in the most Madame Web-esque tone, Dakota Johnson remarks that the character has never read a story from the villain’s perspective before. To expand on that thought, has she only read five books in her life?
All this is also to say that it’s an ironic punchline that a mystery that is about writing voices and the line between fiction and reality, stories and autobiographies, is coming from Colleen Hoover; one can quite literally grasp that the prose is off, subsequently doing a disservice to the character of Verity. That’s without even getting into the fact that, in the present timeline, Verity is catatonic after a car accident. The movie is essentially in the same state until it’s time to reveal its obvious cards.
With that in mind, Jeremy and Lowen meet to put her under an NDA so she can move into their spacious home and ghostwrite the remaining books in a series for a significant chunk of cash. Verity is present in the home and in need of round-the-clock caretaking, whereas Jeremy is no longer working and watches over his son Crew (Brady Wagner), while still mourning the loss of the daughter he pulled out of a lake.
While Lowen sporadically peruses pages of what appears to be an autobiography of Verity falling out of love with her life, Jeremy, and what spurned such a bleak mind, there is also some psychosexual tension as this ghostwriter begins to wonder if she wants to take over that life, even going as far as wearing the same red dress when she and her husband first met. What’s immensely frustrating and downright maddening about this from a structural standpoint is that she always stops not necessarily when the material is getting juicy per se, but when she is on to a grim revelation that could recontextualize her feelings about everything she is doing here, simply so other aspects of the plot and characters can inch a little forward.
It’s like reaching the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones, but stopping right before the barbaric, devastating tragedy strikes. Generally speaking, it’s also not that exciting to sit through an hour of details about what brought Verity and Jeremy (look at that, their names rhyme) together. Even the downfall comes across as a bit too muted and bland for how unrelentingly cruel these reveals are, as if Michael Showalter is afraid to shift into camp until it’s too late. The only one who seems to understand that this is paperback airport-novel nonsense is Anne Hathaway, and even then it takes almost the entire movie to get there.
A significant part of that dullness comes from the high predictability of what’s happening in Verity, which no amount of third-act trash, copious amounts of moderate nudity and spiceless sex scenes, and inexplicable strangeness (something is also up with Crew that I’m not entirely sure even makes sense by the ending), and halfhearted musings about writing as an art form can salvage. Sure, there is dark and upsetting material here, but it is executed in a manner where Michael Showalter doesn’t seem to understand how ludicrous this is, whereas Verity and Colleen Hoover come across as edgy posers. It is also embarrassingly funny that once the final big reveal comes, one can’t help but wonder if the character is named Verity as wordplay on “verify”, for reasons that won’t be spoiled. Then again, viewers will figure out all the spoilers for themselves 20 minutes in.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
