VERITY

(director/writer: Michael Showalter; screenwriters: Nick Antosca, based on the novel by Colleen Hoover; cinematographer: Jim Frohna; editor: Jay Cassidy; music: Volker Bertelmann; cast: Anne Hathaway (Verity Crawford), Dakota Johnson (Lowen Ashleigh), Josh Hartnett (Jeremy Crawford), Brady Wagner (Crew Crawford), Irina Dvorovenko (Anna, nurse), Cayle King (Herself), Ismael Cruz Cordova (Corey); Runtime: 117; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Nick Antosca, Alex Hedlund, Stacey Sher, Michael Showalter, Jordana Mollick, Anne Hathaway, Colleen Hoover ; Amazon Studios/MGM; 2026)

“It has the feel of a half-baked pulp movie made-for-television.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
 
Michael Showalter (“The Big Sick”/”The Idea of You”) directs this weakly made blend of domestic melodrama and lurid thriller. Showalter co-writes it with Nick Antosca, basing it on the 2018 novel by Colleen Hoover. 

Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway) is a best-selling author living at a remote lakeside mansion in Vermont with her publisher husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett). She is paralyzed by a recent traffic accident.

The aspiring author Lowen (Dakota Johnson) and her manager Corey (Ismael Cruz Cordova), fans of the celebrated author, have a proposal to finish the book series Verity is working on.

Jeremy agrees and asks Lowen to move in with them for a few months, where she would have access to Verity’s notes. Lowen bonds with the couple’s young son (Brady Wagner). She also finds interesting unknown personal material on the author’s relationship with her husband.

Nothing that matters transpires, as the writing is trivial and the plot is ludicrous. The talented actors are locked into material that they can’t elevate, as the story becomes trashy and nonsensical. It has the feel of a half-baked pulp movie made-for-television.

REVIEWED ON 10/16/2026  GRADE: C-
dennisschwartzreviews.com