Review by Jon Donnis
Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett find themselves caught up in a deeply dysfunctional family drama in Verity, Michael Showalter’s adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s 2018 novel. This erotic psychological thriller combines obsession, infidelity and disturbing family secrets, with a manuscript that threatens to change everything its discoverer believes about the people around her. It is often ridiculous, but there is enough twisted drama to make it an entertaining watch.
Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, a published author struggling to find an audience for her work while grieving the death of her mother. Her fortunes appear to change when a publisher offers her the chance to finish a bestselling series written by Verity Crawford (Hathaway). Following a near-fatal car accident, Verity has supposedly been left catatonic. Her condition is being kept from the public to prevent readers from believing the series has come to an end.
Lowen accepts the assignment and moves into the Crawfords’ secluded lakeside home in Vermont. There she meets Verity’s husband, Jeremy (Hartnett), and their young son, Crew. The family is also mourning the recent drowning of Crew’s twin sister, Harper, leaving an already difficult situation charged with grief. Lowen’s job is to work through Verity’s notes and establish how to continue the series, but she soon discovers an unfinished autobiographical manuscript that proves considerably more disturbing than anything she expected to find.
The document describes Verity’s obsession with Jeremy and her growing resentment towards their children, whom she apparently viewed as rivals for his affection. Lowen is horrified by what she reads and initially abandons the manuscript, but the revelations leave her questioning the woman she has been hired to replace. She also begins to suspect that Verity, despite her apparent inability to move or speak, may be more aware of her surroundings than anyone realises.
Meanwhile, Lowen grows closer to Jeremy, and their attraction develops into an affair. Her feelings for him complicate her attempts to understand the manuscript, particularly as its contents suggest a deeply disturbing explanation for the family’s tragedy. The question of whether Verity’s account is a genuine confession or a work of fiction becomes increasingly difficult to ignore, especially when Lowen discovers that Jeremy has not been entirely honest with her himself.
The film makes good use of this uncertainty, at least initially. Verity’s profession as a novelist gives the manuscript an interesting ambiguity, since its author is accustomed to inventing stories from the perspectives of immoral characters. Lowen has to decide whether she has uncovered the truth about a deeply troubled woman or become caught up in a story designed to manipulate whoever reads it. Unfortunately, the more the film reveals, the less convincing some of its developments become.
Hathaway is the standout performer. Even when Verity is supposedly incapable of responding to those around her, she gives the character an unsettling quality that makes it difficult to dismiss her as helpless. Johnson is convincing as Lowen, a writer whose professional ambitions and growing attraction to Jeremy cloud her judgement. Hartnett completes the central trio, portraying a grieving husband whose motives become increasingly difficult to read. All three seem comfortable with the material, embracing its heightened emotions rather than attempting to make every development feel entirely realistic.
There is also considerable entertainment in watching attractive people in beautiful surroundings make such appallingly bad decisions. The secluded house and picturesque lake provide an effective contrast to the ugliness of the family’s secrets, while the relationships become increasingly tangled. The film is at its most enjoyable when it embraces the sheer unpleasantness of its characters and allows the drama to become gloriously excessive.
The trouble is that excessive drama is not the same as convincing suspense. Some of the twists are so implausible that they risk turning tension into disbelief. The film keeps raising the stakes, but the characters' behaviour becomes increasingly difficult to accept, and certain revelations feel more interested in shocking the audience than making sense. A psychological thriller can be outrageous, but it still needs a degree of credibility to make its surprises land properly.
At nearly two hours, Verity also takes too long to tell its story. The central mystery is enough to hold attention, but the repeated suspicions and confrontations begin to weigh down the pacing. A tighter edit would have helped the film maintain momentum and given its more extreme developments greater impact.
Despite these shortcomings, Verity is arguably the most entertaining of the recent Colleen Hoover adaptations, with Hathaway doing much of the work needed to keep it engaging. Fans of the novel should find plenty to enjoy, while anyone drawn to trashy psychological thrillers may appreciate its mixture of erotic tension, family secrets and increasingly outrageous behaviour.
Verity is ridiculous fun, but its implausible twists and excessive running time stop it from becoming anything particularly memorable. It is the sort of film you can enjoy on the night, then spend a little time discussing simply because some of its developments are so absurd. By the following day, however, you may struggle to remember much beyond Hathaway and the more outrageous turns of the plot.
I score Verity a deserved 7 out of 10.
Buy the book at https://link.amazon/B00prGWNa
Coming soon to Apple TV - https://apple.co/4hUPFlU
