Anne Hathaway is having a banner year. With roles in The Odyssey , The Devil Wears Prada 2 , and Mother Mary , she now plays the titular Verity in the latest adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel – and she looks like she’s having a blast doing it. The actress is part of a strong cast, including Josh Hartnett and Dakota Johnson, which elevates Verity beyond the average genre thriller and makes it worthy of your time.
Lowen (Johnson) is a struggling author who gets the deal of a lifetime: finish the next book in bestselling author Verity Crawford’s (Hathaway) series. Verity has suffered an accident, rendering her in a vegetative state. Unbeknownst to her publishers and fans, she can no longer write, talk, move, or do much of anything except sit in her stunning lakefront Vermont home. Her doting husband Jeremy (Hartnett) wants her legacy to continue, and so invites Lowen into their home to sort through Verity’s copious research and ghostwrite the book. In doing so, she’ll fulfill her publishing contract and secure a large windfall for both writers. While working on the new novel, Lowen discovers a manuscript that leads her to question everything the world, including her family, knows about the author.
Wet Hot American Summer writer Michael Showalter at first seems like an odd choice to direct a literary psychological thriller, but it’s his sense of humour and lightness that lends itself well to Verity . His take here is more akin to The Eyes of Tammy Faye in its blend of darker elements beneath what can be seen as a sillier, more humorous thread. It’s that tongue-in-cheek nod to the audience that yes, this is a bit silly at times, with jump scares and questionable actions from its characters, but it manages to pull it off successfully. Showalter understands that the best way to sell a twist is to have a little fun with it. Verity has far more in common with ’90s thrillers than anything else, and this reviewer loves it for it.
Verity should not be mentioned in the same breath as the abysmal Hoover adaptation and headline-grabbing (for all the wrong reasons) It Ends With Us . Other than the author, these two tales have little in common. Drawn from what is arguably Hoover’s strongest book, screenwriter Nick Antosca has strayed from the source material where it’s needed, delivering a story that still has enough twists and turns to keep viewers engaged.
Johnson feels grounded as Lowen. As she takes up residence in Verity’s home – sleeping in the former master bedroom, indulging in her spa-like bathtub and engaging with her young son Crew (Brady Wagner) – she feels the magnetic pull of Verity everywhere she turns. The author is one of those people who commands attention, and Hathaway plays her to a T, seemingly relishing every moment. Bright red lipstick, a gloriously coiffed ’do and form-fitting knitwear: she is the epitome of a successful woman who has it all. Hathaway is clearly having fun playing a woman who knows exactly how to command a room, even when she isn’t in it. But a personal family tragedy has greatly affected the entire Crawford family and robbed Verity of her spark. The manuscript Lowen discovers is an autobiography that paints a portrait of a woman who is unlike the Verity the public and her husband know. Cold, calculating, manipulative and cruel, the Verity writing these words offers up a confession: the life she lives is a sham. She is as vindictive and cruel as the villains she writes about in her books.
Verity gives new meaning to the term “unreliable narrator.” By calling into question authenticity, truth and lies, audiences are faced with a central question: who can be trusted? The question isn’t just what happened to Verity Crawford; it’s whether anything we’re being told can be trusted.
It is great to see Hartnett here, who seems to be on an upward trajectory since Oppenheimer and the new Newfoundland-set Netflix series Below which bowed at TIFF. He’s perfectly cast as the doting dad, loving husband and all-around sensitive guy who is managing the Crawford household. Johnson, too, is great, vacillating between wariness and growing confidence. But this is really Hathaway’s show. Though she spends the present-day timeline in a comatose state, the film is flush with rich flashbacks as Lowen pours over her autobiography. Here, we see the dynamic, larger-than-life Verity the public loves. She brims with an effortless confidence Lowen doesn’t possess naturally, but instead has to earn. Hathaway understands exactly what kind of movie this is, and she plays Verity accordingly.
Verity isn’t without its flaws, and some of its twists involve a willingness to go along for the ride. But between Showalter’s playful direction, strong performances and Hathaway, it ultimately delivers a kind of pulpy, twisty thriller that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Sometimes, that’s all you need.
