Verity (2026) Review!!

Synopsis – Lowen Ashleigh gets hired by Jeremy Crawford to ghostwrite novels for his bestselling author wife Verity, who’s unable to finish after an accident. Lowen uncovers Verity’s disturbing truths while residing at the Crawfords’ home to work.

My Take – We’ve seen this cycle play out countless times before. A literary adaptation becomes a major financial success, and suddenly Hollywood rushes to option everything and anything written by that author. John Grisham experienced it throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Nicholas Sparks and John Green enjoyed a similar run before audiences eventually moved on. Stephen King remains in the midst of his seemingly endless adaptation boom.

Now, following the enormous success of 2024’s It Ends with Us, which grossed $351 million worldwide despite the controversy surrounding it, Colleen Hoover has become the industry’s latest obsession. This marks the fourth Hoover novel to reach the big screen, though unlike her earlier adaptations, it trades sweeping romance and emotional heartbreak for a cocktail of adultery, mystery, and murder.

Essentially a thick-headed riff on Rebecca, the 1938 Gothic novel by the English author Daphne du Maurier that has seen multiple adaptations over the years, filtered through the glossy aesthetic of a 1990s erotic thriller, the film arrives with a strong hook and enough star power to attract audiences looking for escapist melodrama and knowingly trashy entertainment.

Unfortunately, the result is a frustrating misfire: a film that is simultaneously overcooked and underdeveloped, growing increasingly absurd until its outrageous twists completely overwhelm any semblance of logic.

Directed by comedy veteran Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer, The Big Sick) and written by Nick Antosca (Antlers), the film appears fully aware of how ludicrous its material is. Nearly every exaggerated performance, psychosexual flourish, and escalating plot turn seems designed to signal that the filmmakers are in on the joke.

They aim for the kind of delicate tonal balancing act that David Fincher brought to films like Gone Girl (2014), but recognizing the inherent silliness of the material is not the same as elevating it. What ultimately derails the film is a plot that shifts from enjoyably ridiculous to outright nonsensical. The mystery gradually fades into the background, replaced by increasingly repetitive erotic detours that quickly become more dull than provocative. While the cast remains committed and does what it can with the material, no performance can overcome a screenplay that feels disappointingly basic at nearly every turn.

For a film so eager to embrace its trashy thrills, it could have benefited from being considerably smarter. Still, make no mistake: this film will find its audience, whether in theaters or on streaming platforms. If nothing else, its commercial prospects will continue fueling Hollywood’s enthusiasm for adapting Hoover‘s novels and similar bestseller-driven properties for years to come.

The story follows Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson), a struggling novelist whose career is fading into obscurity just as she grapples with the loss of her mother. That is until her fortunes seem to change overnight when she’s offered a dream assignment: finishing the bestselling thriller series of renowned author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), who has been left severely incapacitated following a tragic accident.

The opportunity takes Lowen to the Crawfords’ immaculate Vermont estate, where Verity is cared for by her grieving husband Jeremy Crawford (Josh Hartnett), still reeling from the devastating loss of one of their children. While sorting through Verity’s notes and materials, Lowen uncovers an unpublished autobiographical manuscript that paints a far darker picture of the celebrated novelist.

Filled with disturbing confessions about her marriage, motherhood, and the family tragedies that have haunted the Crawfords, the manuscript raises unsettling questions about everything Lowen has been told. As she grows increasingly drawn to Jeremy, Lowen also becomes convinced that Verity may not be as helpless as she appears.

What begins as a lucrative writing job soon spirals into a tangled web of obsession, deception, desire, and murder, forcing Lowen to question whether the greatest threat lies within the manuscript’s pages or lurking somewhere inside the house itself. Here, director Showalter gives the film a sleek, glossy surface, making effective use of the Crawfords’ gorgeous yet faintly sinister Vermont home, which often feels like a character in its own right.

The Nordic chalet aesthetic, paired with Volker Bertelmann’s nervy score, creates a constant sense of unease that suits a story about a bestselling author known for writing deliciously villainous characters. While many of Lowen’s discoveries lean into familiar thriller territory, the film’s shifting perspectives and lingering ambiguity keep things intriguing, even if the eventual payoffs lack the punch they promise.

Much of the story revolves around Lowen reading Verity’s disturbing autobiographical manuscript, yet she inexplicably consumes it in small portions despite being there specifically to research the author. The device creates suspense, but it also makes the protagonist appear frustratingly slow. The jump scares are similarly ineffective, relying more on loud musical stings than carefully built tension. Fortunately, the cinematography still delivers some striking visuals and stylishly sensual set pieces.

At least initially, the film is entertaining because of how enthusiastically it embraces its sleazier impulses. The film revels in melodrama, sexual intrigue, dark humor, and genre excess, often inviting laughter and disbelief in equal measure. Even Lowen and Jeremy’s unsettling meet-cute immediately establishes the heightened tone, as sex, danger, fantasy, and violence increasingly blur together, with Lowen’s growing attraction to Jeremy becoming inseparable from her fascination with, and fear of, Verity herself.

Performance wise, Dakota Johnson is well cast as Lowen, convincingly portraying a woman gradually consumed by paranoia and obsession. She deftly balances sincerity with self-awareness, giving the increasingly melodramatic material just enough restraint to keep it grounded. Anne Hathaway, meanwhile, clearly relishes playing the enigmatic Verity in the flashbacks, bringing a deliciously theatrical edge to the character. Even when confined to a bed for much of the film, Hathaway remains a compelling presence, suggesting that Verity may still have a few tricks left up her sleeve.

Josh Hartnett brings warmth and charm to Jeremy, though there’s always an undercurrent of suspicion that keeps the audience guessing. Brady Wagner, as the Crawfords’ young son, also contributes significantly to the film’s uneasy atmosphere, helping to sell the strange, unsettling dynamic that hangs over the family. Together, the cast does admirable work elevating material that often struggles to match their commitment. On the whole, ‘Verity‘ is a knowingly pulpy thriller elevated by its cast, yet undone by a convoluted plot and underwhelming payoff.