I’ve talked about Zendaya, Tom Holland and most recently Rob Pattinson in “Primetime,” having all made many appearances in theaters this year. However, Anne Hathaway has now made the list making her fifth appearance on the big screen this year. Starring alongside Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, Hathaway stunned me with her haunting performance as Verity Crawford in “Verity.”
I went into “Verity” unsure if it would even make it to this column this week, having seen very little advertising and only knowing it was another adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel. I recalled having mixed feelings about her last adapted tale, “It Ends with Us.” So going into this one I had low expectations. However, it surprised me with not only its pacing, acting and story, but also with how intense it was. The unfolding of the story had me jumping in my seat and tossing my hands over my mouth to quiet my surprise with all the unexpected jumpscares and unsettling shots. I can honestly say, it’s been a very long time since I have watched a film with so little predictability, despite being told the objective of our protagonist within the first 10 minutes or so of the film.
Often when we think of Hoover, we think romance, trauma and messy intimacy scenes. “Verity,” however, while having a small component of romance, is described as a romantic psychological thriller and I would agree that’s exactly what it delivered. The story opens following an aspiring writer named Lowen (Johnson), who on her way to a last minute very important mystery meeting witnesses a man get hit by a car. She does not only see this happen, but is so close in proximity she gets covered in blood from the man who was struck. Next to her in the cross walk is Jeremy (Hartnett) who takes her to a nearby office building to help her wash away the blood. They both discuss that they have recently witnessed deaths far worse than that, Jeremy with his daughter and Lowen with her mother. The plot takes its first twist when Jeremy is the man she is set to have this mystery meeting with. He offers Lowen the opportunity to become the ghost writer for his wife Verity, who is a best selling author, but due to a car accident is unable to finish writing her last novel in a very long series. From this point the story pivots perspectives as Lowen finds Verity’s hidden autobiography entitled “So Be It” that shares her perspective of her relationship with Jeremy.
What I found most interesting about the way this story is told is that we get three different perspectives of the same tale. It invites the audience into the production to try and separate the truth from lies as the movie unfolds. Director Michael Showalter did an excellent job of not creating much bias to any of the characters’ “realities.”
In an interview on “E! News!” Hoover and Showalter discussed the differences between her novel and his adaptation. “You get three different versions of the story,” Showalter explained, pointing to the three main characters. ‘I found myself not taking sides. I found myself wanting to honor each individual of our performers’ realities, to honor that in the filmmaking, so that we weren’t tipping the hat one way or the other,” said Showalter.
Hoover, in the same interview, shared how this re-telling even had her feeling for the character in a way she never had before. “I thought a certain way for so long after writing the book, that seeing the movie and seeing how Michael dove into every point of view, I started to find myself feeling sorry for the character I thought was more evil in the book…Not that the movie shifts you in one direction or another, it was just really fun seeing everyone’s opinions of the truth…” said Hoover.
The film also does a great job of feeling current. The book was first published in 2018 on Kindle and in paperback, before being picked up and published again in 2021 by Grand Central Publishing. The film felt perfectly set in that time, or even our current year of 2026. Even breaking the fourth wall in a scene with Verity on the Youtube show “Hot Ones” hosted by Sean Evans. It was small details like this that took the immersion into this story to the next level.
An unexpected 4 out of 5 on the spicy scale, I really encourage all fans of psychological thrillers to hit the theater this spooky season to see this film. Fans of Hoover or the novel, should also race to see this one on the big screen. Come ready to feel your opinions change on Lowen, Jeremy and Verity just as Hoover felt her perspectives shift. A great movie for those seeking scares sans slashers and gore.