Archive · 2 Oct 2026
Verity Reviews Praise Performances but Question Its Thriller Execution
Verity is a mystery movie about a struggling writer named Lowen.
She is hired to help finish books for the famous author Verity Crawford.
Verity cannot work after a serious car accident.
Lowen stays at Verity’s large home and discovers a secret manuscript.
The manuscript describes disturbing events and makes Verity seem very different from her public image.
Lowen also begins questioning Verity’s husband Jeremy and the story he tells about his family.
Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett give strong performances.
The house, costumes and music make the movie look and feel spooky.
However, reviewers say the movie moves slowly and that some twists are too dramatic or unbelievable.
Michael Showalter adapts Colleen Hoover’s novel about writer Lowen Ashleigh and author Verity Crawford.
Lowen becomes a ghostwriter after Verity is left unable to work following a serious car accident.
A hidden manuscript presents a disturbing version of Verity and makes the truth increasingly uncertain.
Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett are widely praised for committed, watchable performances.
Reviewers admire the film’s Gothic atmosphere and visual polish but criticize its slow pacing, melodrama and improbable twists.
- Who
- Director Michael Showalter; writer Nick Antosca; actors Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett; and characters Verity Crawford, Lowen Ashleigh and Jeremy Crawford.
- What
- A psychological thriller adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel about a ghostwriter who discovers a disturbing manuscript in an incapacitated author’s home.
- When
- The film is in theatres; the reviews do not provide a specific release date.
- Where
- Much of the story takes place at the Crawford family’s lavish home in Vermont.
- Why
- Lowen is hired to continue Verity’s successful book series after Verity becomes unable to work.
What Works
What Falls Short
Performances
What Works
Dakota Johnson gives Lowen an understated, uneasy and ambiguous quality; Anne Hathaway makes Verity theatrically unsettling; and Josh Hartnett keeps Jeremy difficult to read.
What Falls Short
The performances cannot fully overcome the screenplay’s familiar characterization, including Jeremy’s stereotypical suspicious-husband role and Verity’s limited opportunities to develop beyond the mystery.
Atmosphere and style
What Works
The Crawford home, costumes, interiors, production design and Volker Bertelmann’s score create a polished, isolated and suitably Gothic thriller atmosphere.
What Falls Short
The visual polish and music can feel as though they are working harder than the screenplay, making the material appear more substantial without solving its narrative weaknesses.
Mystery and twists
What Works
The hidden manuscript, competing versions of events and shifting relationships create uncertainty and provide entertaining, guilty-pleasure revelations.
What Falls Short
The slow build, repeated misdirection, melodramatic dialogue and increasingly extravagant twists can feel overworked, implausible and more focused on shock than psychological depth.
Romance and erotic tension
What Works
Lowen’s growing attraction to Jeremy adds another layer of complication to the family mystery and contributes to the film’s provocative premise.
What Falls Short
The sexual tension rarely generates the heat the story seeks, leaving the film’s erotic and scandalous elements feeling stiff.
- Title
- Verity
- Director
- Michael Showalter
- Writer
- Nick Antosca
- Source material
- Colleen Hoover’s bestselling psychological thriller novel
- Lead cast
- Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett
- Central mystery
- Whether Verity’s hidden manuscript describes the truth or a calculated invention
- Music
- Score by Volker Bertelmann
- Overall reception
- Performances and atmosphere are praised, while pacing, melodrama and plausibility are criticized
Sources
‘Verity’ review: Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson’s thriller has all the ingredients, but little bite
Verity Review: Dakota Johnson & Anne Hathaway Navigate A Twisty Psychological Thriller
