“Verity” (2026) adapts Colleen Hoover 2018 novel, is Hoover’s fourth film adaptation and the second of two in 2026. Best-selling author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway in her fifth movie of 2026) is no longer able to finish her famous book series, so the publishing company, Hachett Book Group, hires published author Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson) to finish it. She goes to Verity’s Vermont (alliteration) home to look through Verity’s notes and discovers that Verity is catatonic. While living with Verity’s husband, Jeremy (Josh Hartnett), and their son, Crew (Brady Wagner), she begins to covet Verity’s life. When Lowen discovers Verity’s autobiography, she discovers the author’s real-life sins, fact checks them then decides that Verity never deserved that life, and Lowen should have it. She also suspects that Verity is faking it. Will Lowen uncover the truth and get what she deserves? This movie is ridiculous, and anyone with a keen imagination could come up with a more lurid tale. Still with such a great cast of pretty people in pretty places doing wicked, illogical things, you may not mind. If you are fan of any of those three, you will not want to miss it.
Has anyone considered casting Hathaway as Snow White? Her skin is so pale, and her hair is so black that it almost feels lacquered. Throw on an extreme red lip then red clothes, and folks, you have a perfectly stylized villain because how could a young mom look so perfect after having twins without something deeply, disturbingly wrong with her? Somewhere Diana Vreeland is going gaga. Costume designer Jacqueline Demeterio and the entire makeup department should take a bow for the way that they styled Hathaway, who always looks amazing, but is complete perfection. Hathaway has a heavy lift as Verity because of the numerous aspects of her character: her public persona, the victim of circumstance and the villain. She must make it credible that the same woman could plausibly be any or all those women, and occasionally, Hathaway must do it in the same scene. She is most fun as the complete psychopath who plays a more conventional woman for Jeremy in the hopes of winning back his love.
Hartnett gets treated as the ideal, caring, considerate man and treated like a piece of meat shirtless within the first five minutes (if that) of appearing onscreen. Hathaway is never naked thanks to Hartnett and other objects draped artfully to preserve her modesty. If you are familiar with his resume, then you will likely guess his character’s trajectory. Hartnett has gotten better with time, and he makes Jeremy seem like an easy lift. Even at his nadir, Jeremy is not the worst, so it feels like a pulled punch. Sure, Jeremy is cheating on his sick wife in their house that Verity bought, in their bed while playing happy little family with her son. It is challenging to say whether Hoover or the film pulled punches on Jeremy, but it felt as if they could have made sullied his character a smidge more, so the ending has more oomph, but no. The story underexplores exactly how calculating he was in arranging for Lowen to get hired.
Last and least is Johnson, whom I adore after “A Bigger Splash” (2015) and “Suspiria” (2018), but compared to Hathaway and Hartnett, was phoning it in. For the pervs out there, you get to see her breasts with and without her bra on so the lemon may be worth the squeeze. It felt as if Johnson was laughing at “Verity,” not with it. Whenever she expresses shock or any negative emotion, she coves her mouth. If you are looking for a new drinking game, try it because it is her go-to move. The good news is that her sarcastic, deadpan delivery works well with sarcasm. Also, continuity department, it did not help that some blood on her neck kept changing shape, moving or disappearing without her doing something. Also, who would put on a fresh white shirt without fully cleaning up. In many ways, Johnson gave more than she had to give based on the quality of her character, who seems dumber than dirt. Whether the blame lies with Hoover or writer Nick Antosca, it is unclear, but Lowen is a classic case of tell, do not show. How is she the best person to write a book of a woman who could be a psychopath when Lowen’s imagination only goes five minutes into the future?
Anna (Irina Dvorovenko) plays the implicitly disapproving nurse who tends to Verity. While she feels very imposing, the part goes nowhere, but Dvorovenko makes the character more interesting in a few words and well-placed entrances than many headliners. It was disappointing not to know Anna’s deal, and it felt as if she would know more about Verity or Jeremy’s character. What a missed opportunity! If Verity was written for an older woman, K.K. Moggie, who plays senior editor Amanda Thomas, a stock supporting character, could have swapped places with Hathaway because she looks amazing, and Moggie was a riveting presence as one of the few adults actually there for business. Wagner dominates the kid category with a creepy scene scarier than anything else that happened in “Verity,” although director Michael Showalter deserves credit for making the audience jump at relatively innocuous things. It is so galling as a horror fan to get got on such mild scares.
It may not be a fair comparison because the two films have different objectives, but “The Housemaid” (2025) is way more fun than “Verity.” Dear reader, while the appeal of “a woman taking another woman’s perfect life then realizing it is not” love triangle seems to appeal to the masses, the individual talents do not add up to the collective whole of the latter film. How is it sexy to bite into a wooden bedframe until the teeth marks embed permanently? When did people think pillows were too pedestrian? The side close-up of the leading ladies’ teeth is so awkward, blurry and unerotic. Sure, it is probably some huge moment in the book, but surely there was another way to shoot it. Not as a close up, but from the front of the bed, medium or long shot. Did a dental group bribe someone so people would imitate this stupid scene, so dentists could rake in the money? Stick to the aesthetic, vampiric blood and teeth that draw blood theme. It is a classic. This movie will likely make money hand over fist, but the production values and cast are the real reason to stay, but the trash is just recycling.
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So, did Jeremy hire Lowen because he has a type and a schtick because the movie feels like a modus operandi? Did he want Lowen to find that manuscript so he could work on his sinister skills, and it is Lowen’s area of expertise? Lowen should have been suspicious the instant that he did not question whether Lowen wrote it, and if she was delusional for seeing things. It seemed as if it was going to tie into her small-town past, but nope. The movie changes how they kill Verity, and it is so dumb that it almost ruins everything. The alternative story is a great twist but is also so absurd that it makes everything feel rushed. Such a brilliant author decided to fake catatonic to escape? How? What?
