Verity Review: Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson And Josh Hartnett Go Unhinged

Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway and Josh Hartnett dive headfirst into a seductive psychological thriller that plays like an uncensored ’90s made-for-TV movie.

Verity is the kind of movie I never really thought I would sit down and watch, but the cast was strong enough to get me through the door. Josh Hartnett, in particular, was the biggest reason I wanted to give this one a shot, while Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson made it even easier to see what this adaptation had to offer.

As far as I can remember, this was also my first time watching a film adapted from a Colleen Hoover novel, so I had no real attachment to the source material or expectations about how the story should play out. Going in almost completely cold worked in the movie’s favor because Verity becomes increasingly twisted, seductive, and uncomfortable as it keeps playing with what is real, what is manipulation, and who you can actually trust.

Directed by Michael Showalter and written by Nick Antosca, Verity is a sultry, mysterious, and completely unhinged soap opera dressed up as a psychological thriller. The performances can be over the top, some of the line deliveries are undeniably corny, and the movie is so aggressively sexualized at times that it almost becomes part of the joke. Still, there is something strangely effective about how completely it commits to all those choices.

It never seems embarrassed by the kind of movie it wants to be.

Verity Feels Like An Uncensored ’90s TV Thriller

One of the things that immediately clicked for me while watching Verity was how much it reminded me of the made-for-TV thrillers and melodramas everywhere in the 1990s.

Those are the kinds of movies I remember watching as a kid simply because they were on television. I was not exactly seeking them out or even fully understanding everything happening, but they were just part of what you ended up watching back then. They usually had suspicious spouses, dangerous attraction, dark family secrets, murder, betrayal, and characters constantly making decisions that were obviously going to end badly. The biggest difference was that those movies were still working within network television standards, so there was always a limit to how far the sex, violence, and overall craziness could go.

Verity feels like one of those movies after every restriction has been completely removed.

Dakota Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer who relocates to the remote Crawford estate after being hired to finish the work of bestselling author Verity Crawford, played by Anne Hathaway. Verity has been left physically incapacitated, leaving Lowen to work closely with her husband Jeremy, played by Josh Hartnett, while digging through the material that could help her complete the assignment.

Lowen eventually discovers what appears to be Verity’s autobiography, filled with disturbing confessions that completely change how she views the woman, her marriage, and everything happening inside the house.

From there, the movie gets increasingly messy in exactly the way you expect a story like this to.

Lowen starts questioning what she is reading, what she is seeing, and whether attraction is beginning to affect her judgment. The deeper she gets into Verity and Jeremy’s life, the harder it becomes to separate truth from fiction, manipulation from desire, and genuine concern from obsession.

Josh Hartnett Is The Biggest Draw

Hartnett was the main reason I wanted to see Verity, and he ended up being one of the movie’s strongest parts.

Jeremy sits at the center of this bizarre triangle while the audience is constantly asked to reconsider what they think about him. Hartnett brings natural charm to the role, but there is always just enough uncertainty beneath his performance to keep you wondering whether he is being completely honest, whether he understands more than he is letting on, or whether he is simply trapped in a nightmare he cannot control.

His presence makes him a perfect fit for this kind of old-school psychological thriller.

Anne Hathaway, meanwhile, goes all in as Verity. This isn’t a quiet performance, and it doesn’t need to be. The movie operates in a heightened world where subtle reactions and understated drama aren’t the point, so Hathaway leaning into the character’s theatrical side fits the tone better than a more restrained performance probably would have.

Dakota Johnson has the harder job because most of the story is filtered through Lowen’s perspective, and the movie needs the audience to follow her even as we question whether she is making the right decisions. Johnson handles the balance well enough, especially once Lowen becomes more emotionally invested in Jeremy and the Crawford household.

The Cheesiness Is Part Of The Experience

There is no getting around the fact that Verity can be incredibly cheesy.

Some of the dialogue is corny, some of the acting pushes hard into melodrama, and some scenes dial up the sexuality so high that it feels like the movie is daring the audience to laugh along.

Normally, this kind of excess could completely sink a thriller. Here, it almost becomes part of the appeal.

These tropes are a major reason stories like this connect with their target demographic both on the page and on screen. The fantasy, danger, sex, obsession, and ridiculous interpersonal drama are not accidental side effects. They are part of the genre’s DNA, and Verity understands that trying to sand away every pulpy edge would probably make the movie far less entertaining.

Showalter instead lets the story embrace its soap-opera roots while giving it enough polish to feel like a theatrical version of those wonderfully trashy thrillers that once dominated television.

The movie does occasionally go too far.

At times, the line delivery or dramatic reaction becomes so exaggerated that the tension briefly disappears. Still, the movie usually pulls you back in with another revelation, uncomfortable encounter, or new reason to question what you thought you understood.

The Twists Keep Verity Entertaining

The biggest surprise for me was how effective some of the twists actually were.

Several moments caught me completely off guard, especially once the movie starts playing more aggressively with perspective and the possibility that what Lowen believes may not necessarily be the truth.

By the final stretch, the movie has piled so many layers of manipulation, obsession, and doubt on top of one another that predicting every turn becomes almost pointless. It is more fun to let the story get increasingly unhinged and see where it lands.

Not every reveal works equally well, but enough of them surprised me to keep the movie entertaining.

Verity Knows Exactly Who It Is For

Verity isn’t going to win over everyone, and I don’t think it is trying to.

This is a very specific kind of psychological thriller aimed at viewers who enjoy heightened melodrama, seductive danger, outrageous secrets, and characters constantly making decisions that make everything worse.

It is cheesy, oversexualized, twisted, and occasionally ridiculous, but those qualities are also a big part of why it works as well as it does.

Sometimes the excess works against the movie, but more often it is exactly what makes Verity entertaining.

Verity releases in theaters October 2, 2026.

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