Picture this: you’re a struggling writer played by Dakota Johnson. You’re slinging short stories for peanuts and giving lame book readings at local bookstores when you get “the call.” It’s your lawyer, and it’s the big one: a big book deal is incoming and they wanna meet you. You’re on your way to the meeting, but, oh no! A pedestrian gets obliterated right before your eyes, and now you’re covered in blood! A handsome man you don’t know, who looks suspiciously like Josh Hartnett, ushers you away and helps you clean up, even giving you his shirt. When you leave him and arrive at the meeting, you learn that the man who helped you earlier is also the one who wants to hire you.
This contrived and hokey but otherwise perfectly adequate opener is what you can expect from Michael Showalter’s 2026 film “Verity,” which I distinctly remember wanting to see without actually knowing a single thing about it. Who knew this psychological thriller also featured a healthy amount of soft-core erotica? Certainly not me. I only know what the trailers tell me, much like when I first watched “The Housemaid.” Compared with the 2025 film featuring Sydney Sweeney and Brandon Sklenar, however, “Verity” does not quite measure up.
Of course, I will say that this film was, in fact, adapted from a 2018 novel of the same name, much like “The Housemaid” was, and “The Housemaid” was a very good film! It was well put together, with a shocking twist at the end, especially for someone who has never read the book. But if the two films don’t quite compare well, then what makes “Verity” worth your money and, more importantly, your time?
Well, not a whole lot, if I am being perfectly honest. The phrase “dark Hallmark movie” came to mind as I watched this film because it certainly seemed to, in some cases, contain a lot of the same elements. This woman is a loser in the big city who meets a guy from a small place who sweeps her off her feet, but adds a more chilling twist that seems compelling at first but then falls apart the minute you think about it, and blammo! You ladies and germs have yourselves your very own “dark Hallmark movie.”
I hate to say it, too, because I did really expect more from this film. I mean, Anne Hathaway played the film’s namesake character, Verity Crawford, and did a spectacular job. Josh Hartnett, as her husband Jeremy, wasn’t bad either, but I can only describe Dakota Johnson’s performance as the film’s protagonist, ghostwriter Lowen Ashleigh, as about as interesting as a limp piece of lettuce. I think I remember more about the performance of the actor playing their son, Crew Crawford, than Miss Johnson’s.
You’ve got the unsuspecting victim stumbling upon an incapacitated writer’s deep-seated inner thoughts only to realize that maybe that incapacitation is all a ruse and there is something darker going on. The twist revealed at the end is short-lived when you look back at the plot and realize that you have to give it too much of the benefit of the doubt before it all simply crumbles apart.
Better luck next time, I suppose, but hey, it’s not all doom and gloom this Halloween! We still have “Other Mommy.” There is some hope for something spine-chilling.
