Verity

Director: Michael Showalter

Writer Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson) is published with limited success. But when Jeremy Crawford (Josh Hartnett), husband of author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), asks her to finish Verity’s successful novel series, famed for its focus on the darkest areas of humanity, her life changes. At the family home she finds an author incapable of finishing her work after a car accident, and a family racked with grief. But as Lowen researches Verity’s work, she realises all is not what it seems, complicated by a growing relationship with Jeremy. Will she discover the truth before it’s too late?

Verity is a dark, semi-erotic thriller, similar to 80s/90s favourites like Basic Instinct and more recent fare like The Housemaid. The problem is that throughout its 117 minutes I was constantly reminded of those much better films. I’ve never read Colleen Hoover’s novel, so don’t know if the source material is at fault, but for me Verity is a poor imitation of the genre: formulaic, derivative, hugely predictable and at times quite dull.

It’s a pity, as it starts promisingly, with a strong opening 15 minutes including a great scene as Lowen looks to cross the road. But the setup tells you all you need to know. You’re pretty sure where it’s going from the start; it’s just which options from the buffet of previous thrillers it picks.

The script is predictable and clunky, which hurts the performances. It helps that Anne Hathaway has little dialogue, as she is the best and most believable thing in the film by a mile. But Hartnett and especially Dakota Johnson are hamstrung by the story and script, Johnson struggling to be believable from the moment she enters the house. And I’m not sure why Irina Dvorovenko is there as Verity’s nurse, given almost nothing to do, except an occasional sinister line.

There may have been potential in the book, but the film didn’t work for me. As Pauline Kael once said “it’s fine if you like that kind of thing.” I didn’t but I’m sure others will.