Review: 'Verity' is a psychological thriller that's lacking in brains, but loaded with sex appeal of stars Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson
At one point in the thriller “Verity,” famous author Verity Crawford (played by Anne Hathaway) is giving enigmatic answers to questions posed by Sean Evans between bites of chicken wings doused in pepper sauces on “Hot Ones” — something Evans has never done with a novelist in 30 seasons of the show.
And yet that’s not the dumbest or funniest thing that happens in “Verity,” a slick but empty psychological drama about the different ways writers lie for a living.
Hathaway’s Verity is the fictional writer in this story, but the real-life writer who got the ball rolling is Colleen Hoover, whose trauma-heavy novels have inspired four movies in the last two years. (The others are “It Ends With Us,” “Regretting You” and “Reminders of HIm.”) Hoover envisions Verity as the elegant nasty writer she always dreamed of being, and then proceeds to run her through an emotional horror show.
The script, adapted by Nick Antosca (who wrote this year’s “Cape Fear” miniseries), starts with the most horrifying meet-cute ever. Unknown Manhattan author Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson) is on her way to a big meeting at a major publisher — when she’s suddenly covered in blood from a bike messenger flattened by a motorist. A nice guy (Josh Hartnett) takes her to a nearby coffee shop to clean up, and even offers his shirt to replace her blood-drenched blouse.
At the publisher, she sees Hartnett character, Jeremy, in the meeting, and learns that he’s Verity’s husband. The publishing house wants Verity’s next blockbuster novel, but Verity is unable to finish, so Jeremy has suggested Lowen can be Verity’s ghost writer and finish the work.
Lowen is invited to the Crawfords’ ultra-modern home in Vermont, where Verity and Jeremy live with their son, Crew (Brady Wagner), and where covers the frozen lake just beyond the backyard. Lowen learns some of Verity’s recent tragedies, including the boating death of Crew’s twin sister, Harper (Sienna Kolovitz), and the car crash that has left Verity catatonic.
As Lowen insinuates herself in the Crawford home, she goes through Verity’s notes and uncovers a hidden thumb drive with an unsettling manuscript, an autobiography in which Verity reveals some horrible secrets. Lowen also starts having sexual fantasies about Jeremy, and once about Verity herself. (The “another chance to see Dakota Johnson’s boobs” scene involves Lowen pleasuring herself in the bath.)
Director Michael Showalter is known for offbeat comedies and romances, such as “The Big Sick,” “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and the Hathaway-starring romance “The Idea of You.” I don’t doubt Showalter’s talent could extend to the psychological thriller, but he needs stronger material than what Hoover gives him. Any movie where the major plot driver is Johnson stumbling over writings Hathaway left behind needs some serious plot restructuring. It’s also a stretch of credulity to suggest Johnson as a younger, hotter substitute for Hathaway, who’s hot enough in her own right.
Speaking of Hathaway, it’s notable that this is the fifth movie she’s starred in this year — and, among other things, it’s been fun watching her baby bump swell with every red carpet line. “Verity” is the weakest entry of the five, and one wishes she had said “no” to something in the last two years.
The most unforgivable sin of “Verity,” out of several contenders, is how Showalter and Antosca — and likely Hoover — sends the plot one way and then another, and finally declare (via Verity’s “Hot Ones” appearance, no less) that there is no “true” conclusion, and we in the audience are rubes for expecting one.
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‘Verity’
★★
Opens Friday, October 2, at theaters everywhere. Rated R for sexual content, some nudity, language, violence and bloody images. Running time: 114 minutes.