'Verity' Review: Anne Hathaway Shines in an Otherwise Frustrating Thriller
By Jack Ransom - October 5, 2026
Based on the popular novel from Colleen Hoover. Verity follows Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson), who is hired to ghostwrite for Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), where she uncovers what appears to be Verity's autobiographical notes. She wrestles with the confessions about Verity's husband (Josh Hartnett) and finds separating fiction from reality challenging.
There have been a streak of Hoover adaptations between 2024 and now: It Ends with Us - which I think really is only remembered for the Blake Lively controversy, but it made big bucks and Regretting You & Reminders of Him. I am far from the target audience of these flicks and respectfully have zero interest in watching them. However, the trashy, horror inflicted, throwback erotic thriller vibes that Verity promised certainly caught my attention.
It’s just a shame that the trailers for this are better than the film itself, as this is unfortunately a below average slog for the majority of its duration and really only comes alive in the final 30 minutes or so. It’s quite impressive how the film manages to be overstuffed yet also incredibly shallow from a screenplay perspective. It begins strikingly with a bloody, tragic accident which leads Lowen (Johnson) to meet Jeremy (Hartnett), where he convinces her to travel to his isolated Vermont homestead where he resides with his ailing, catatonic wife and their son.
From here it’s a trudging experience of Lowen piecing together what happened to Verity (allowing Hathaway to stretch her acting muscles more so in the flashbacks), largely meandering around the house with cups of coffee and becoming more flirty with Jeremy, interspersed with the occasional laughable Verity ‘jump scare’ to remind you that this in fact a thriller. There is next to no excitement or tension to the mystery up until the final act where it embraces its trashy potential, becoming a laughable barrage of twists and reveals.
Stylistically it’s solid, with a slick sheen to the proceedings (it does have that familiar Sony/streaming visual style). Some of the cinematography for the frozen lake, simultaneously homely-yet-eerie interior design is well captured and the blood reds and glamorous stars are expectedly photogenic. There is also a cackle worthy scene where Jeremy ‘finds out’ the reveal which is presented in unabashedly goofy fashion (staggered zooms, an OTT Hartnett face and the words filtered across the screen).
Look, I like Dakota Johnson, particularly during press junkets and she seems to have an ice cool deadpan humour. However, she is so wooden and unfazed here throughout the majority of the runtime it is borderline laughable — to the point where her character even apologises for having “resting bored face.” Hartnett doesn’t fair much better and at least delivers in the more emotional father moments. Hathaway is of course the scene stealer in her scattering of scenes as she hams it up gleefully and menacingly in the flashbacks.
Verity is a below average attempt at capturing the sleazy, trashy thrills of the 90’s & 00’s. It has its moments of campy, delirious fun and thanks to frequently ropey dialogue and ill-fitting performance moments it did provide some unintended laughs. It’s not poorly made at all, Hathaway carries and it has a slick production design and some twisted ideas. It’s just a shame the execution is a slog for the most part.
'Verity' is out now in cinemas, following its October 2, 2026 release date.
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Jack Ransom
Senior Writer
Jack loves to talk films: whether it is reviewing them, ranking them, reacting to them or collecting physical media!
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