Film version of Colleen Hoover’s ‘Verity’ simply isn’t trashy enough

Since 2024, there have been four feature film adaptations of Colleen Hoover novels. But the most recent, “Verity,” is a bit of a different animal than Hoover’s standard romantic fare.

Directed by Michael Showalter with a screenplay from Nick Antosca, “Verity” stars Dakota Johnson as Lowen Ashleigh (continuing the trend of Colleen Hoover protagonists with bonkers names), a struggling author trying to make ends meet in the wake of her mother’s death. Her luck changes when out of nowhere, she receives a lucrative offer to ghostwrite for none other than bestselling author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), whose psychological thriller series is unfinished – and might continue to be so, since Verity was recently in a car accident and can no longer move or talk.

Throughout the movie, multiple characters – Verity, Lowen, even Gayle King in an early cameo – tell us how messed up Verity’s books are. They’re depraved, wicked, and vicious, so much so that even Verity’s supportive husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett) can’t bring himself to read them.

This is what the characters are telling you. But then, you’ll hear voiceover of a passage from the book (usually read pretty deliciously by Hathaway, all things considered), and it’ll be a fairly tame sequence about stabbing someone and not feeling bad about it. And that’s kind of “Verity’s” whole problem – it’s not nearly as twisted as it seems to think it is.

As far as Hoover adaptations go (and they’re becoming a genre unto themselves), “Verity” is operating at a higher level than most. It’s got bigger stars, and Showalter clearly has an affection for classic noir, the film’s visual references ranging from “Leave Her to Heaven” to “The Night of the Hunter” to “Notorious.” There’s a classiness to this movie, at least on the surface, that elevates it above what you might expect. But, maybe “Verity” could have used a bit of good old fashioned trash. Because, besides Hathaway doing her damndest to inject this thing with a bit of humor, “Verity” is just about as boring as it could possibly be.

Lowen tentatively takes the ghostwriting offer, and things start to escalate when she discovers Verity’s secret memoir, which contains startling revelations about the depths of Verity’s obsession with her husband and the truth about the death of the couple’s child, Harper, who recently drowned.

Read Sammie’s full list on Rough Draft