Verity – Movie Review (3/5)

VERITY is a psychological thriller with drama, steamy moments, and a dark mystery. Based on the bestselling novel by author Colleen Hoover, the movie has three core characters, just like the book. For me, Anne Hathaway completely stole the show as the title character. Read our full Verity movie review here and find it in theaters now!

VERITY is coming to theaters worldwide, and as it’s based on a best-selling novel by Colleen Hoover, it has a built-in fanbase. With a cast featuring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson & Josh Hartnett in the lead roles, this should sell plenty of tickets.

And yes, it also deserves to.

No, this isn’t the most brilliant psychological thriller ever, and if you’ve read the book, you know what to expect. However, the overall vibe is intense and dark in all the right ways. Also, while I feared the steamy scenes would take up too much time, they tend to get cut before it goes too far.

Continue reading our Verity movie review below. Find it in U.S. theaters from October 2, 2026.

The wild mind of a crime author

Verity is often described as a “seductive, psychological thriller”, and it absolutely is. I mean that as a compliment, as I feel it leans heavily into the 1990s steamy thriller vibe, while steering clear of the tropes we have long realized were awful.

This is the story of struggling but published author Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson), who is financially ruined and emotionally close to the same. That’s why the chance to relocate to the remote Crawford estate to ghostwrite for Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway) is an ideal opportunity.

And who is Verity Crawford?

Well, she is a renowned and extremely successful crime author. Unfortunately, Verity was in a car crash and now appears catatonic. As a result, Lowen needs to go through all the notes and ideas that Verity had already made for her next book.

As part of this research, Lowen also comes across what appears to be Verity’s chilling autobiographical manuscript. Reading the dark and confessional file, she gets a very different perspective on both Verity and her husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett).

Before long, fiction and reality blend into each other, as attraction and obsession also seem to intersect in strange and immoral ways.

The year of Anne Hathaway

From The Odyssey to The End of Oak Street and Mother Mary, not to mention The Devil Wears Prada 2, and now Verity, 2026 seems to be the year of Anne Hathaway. And I love it. Admittedly, I am someone who has always adored the woman, so this makes me extremely happy.

In Verity, she gets to play out of type, and yet, it’s not like we haven’t seen Anne Hathaway take on this type of character before. The femme fatale, who has a wit as sharp as her claws, and goes after what she wants.

A movie like Eileen from 2023 is another example of one such character. As is Mothers’ Instinct (2024), though in a very different way.

With Verity, Anne Hathaway is also the character allowed to play into the 1990s femme fatale steamy thriller vibe that permeates the entire storyline.

Although both Josh Hartnett (Trap) and Dakota Johnson (Wounds) deliver exactly what their characters demand, Anne Hathaway completely steals the show for me.

As she should. After all, she does portray the title character.

Watch Verity in theaters now!

The director of Verity is Michael Showalter, who recently directed Anne Hathaway in a very different role and movie with The Idea of You. Also, he has directed Oh.What.Fun. and Happy Face. The screenwriter for this movie is Nick Antosca, who has made mostly genre productions, which surely has secured the darkness seeping throughout.

Nick Antosca created shows like Channel Zero, Brand New Cherry Flavor, The Act, Candy, and the recent Cape Fear series. Also, he wrote and directed the horror movie Antlers (2021), which I personally really loved.

As already mentioned, Verity is based on a bestseller, which has the advantage in terms of interest. In that sense, it’s not unlike the situation with The Housemaid by Freida McFadden. Strangely, Freida McFadden has written a book with a very similar premise to that of Verity.

I won’t get into that here, except to say that the two books do evolve in quite different ways towards the end. And yes, this 2026 adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s book stays (mostly) true to its source material. Although The Housemaid was more steamy in the movie, the book was not.

In any case, my final thought on this movie is simply a recommendation. If you enjoyed Colleen Hoover’s book, you can expect to enjoy the movie as well. If you are not familiar with the story, then just enjoy Anne Hathaway in all her fierce glory.

VERITY is out exclusively in theaters on October 2, 2026.

Details

Director: Michael Showalter
Screenplay: Nick Antosca
Based on the book by: Colleen Hoover
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Brady Wagner