Verity is a 2026 psychological thriller directed by Michael Showalter and adapted from Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2018 novel. The movie stars Anne Hathaway as the mysterious novelist Verity Crawford, Dakota Johnson as struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh, and Josh Hartnett as Verity’s husband, Jeremy Crawford. With its combination of mystery, romance, psychological manipulation and dark secrets, the film aims to keep viewers questioning what is true and what may be a carefully constructed lie.
The film has generated mixed reactions from critics, while audience reactions have included praise for its twists, performances and deliberately ambiguous story. Rotten Tomatoes currently lists the film at 40% from critics, while its audience section contains numerous positive reactions, particularly from viewers who enjoy mystery and ambiguous endings.
What Is Verity About?
The story follows Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer whose career has not developed as she hoped. Her situation changes when she receives an unusual professional opportunity: completing the remaining books in a successful series written by the famous author Verity Crawford.
There is one major problem. Verity is no longer able to complete the work herself.
Following a serious accident, Verity is physically incapacitated and unable to communicate normally. Lowen travels to the Crawford family home to examine Verity’s notes and writing materials so that she can continue the bestselling series.
What initially appears to be an ordinary writing assignment quickly becomes something much darker.
While going through Verity’s belongings, Lowen discovers an autobiographical manuscript containing disturbing revelations about Verity’s family life. The manuscript appears to describe events involving Verity’s children, her marriage to Jeremy and her own thoughts and behavior.
The discovery changes Lowen’s understanding of the family.
Instead of simply researching another writer’s work, she begins trying to determine whether the manuscript represents the truth or whether it is a fictional exercise created by Verity.
That central question becomes the foundation of the movie.
The Mystery Is the Biggest Attraction
One of the most interesting things about Verity is that it does not make the mystery completely straightforward.
Lowen discovers information that makes Verity appear frightening. At the same time, viewers are repeatedly reminded that the information comes from Verity’s writing.
That creates an important distinction between something being written and something actually happening.
The movie therefore asks viewers to consider how much trust should be placed in a narrator.
Is Verity telling the truth?
Is she deliberately manipulating Lowen?
Is Jeremy telling the truth about his wife?
Can Lowen trust her own interpretation of what she discovers?
These questions become increasingly important as the story progresses.
RogerEbert.com’s review highlights this aspect of the film, describing the story as being concerned with truth, credibility and believability while allowing viewers to question which of the main characters is manipulating the others.
This makes Verity different from a conventional thriller in which the audience simply waits for the detective to discover the culprit. Here, the audience has to interpret conflicting information.
Dakota Johnson as Lowen
Dakota Johnson plays Lowen as a relatively restrained and observant character.
Lowen isn’t introduced as a traditional action-oriented thriller heroine. She is a writer who becomes increasingly involved in a situation she does not fully understand.
Johnson’s understated performance works particularly well in scenes where Lowen is trying to process new information. Rather than immediately reacting dramatically to every discovery, she often appears to be studying the people and environment around her.
This fits the character because Lowen is essentially investigating through observation.
However, some critics have found the characterization too thin. Variety’s review argues that the movie does not provide enough depth to make the central characters as compelling as they could be.
Other reviews have been more favorable toward the performances, particularly the way the three principal actors play characters whose apparent personalities may not tell the whole story.
Anne Hathaway as Verity
Anne Hathaway has one of the film’s most unusual roles.
For much of the story, Verity is physically incapacitated and therefore has limited conventional dialogue. Yet she remains the dominant presence in the house.
Even when she isn’t actively speaking, Lowen’s discoveries about her keep Verity at the center of the story.
Hathaway also gets the opportunity to portray different versions of Verity through Lowen’s imagination and the information contained in the manuscript.
The Los Angeles Times praised Hathaway’s performance for its expressive quality and noted how she plays the character’s mysterious duality.
This is important because Verity has to remain interesting even when the character isn’t physically doing very much.
The movie essentially asks Hathaway to make the audience wonder what is happening behind Verity’s expression.
Is she helpless?
Is she manipulating everyone?
Is Lowen misunderstanding her?
Or is the truth somewhere in between?
Josh Hartnett as Jeremy
Josh Hartnett plays Jeremy Crawford, Verity’s husband.
Jeremy occupies an interesting position because he becomes one of Lowen’s main sources of information about the Crawford family.
He is also emotionally important to the story.
Lowen’s relationship with Jeremy becomes increasingly complicated, making the mystery more personal. The movie therefore combines its psychological thriller elements with romantic and erotic tension.
Hartnett’s performance has also received attention from reviewers. The Guardian describes Jeremy as a potentially dangerous presence whose relationship with Lowen adds another layer to the suspense.
The character is particularly important because viewers have to decide how much they trust him.
The Atmosphere and Setting
The Crawford home plays a major role in establishing the film’s atmosphere.
The remote Vermont setting, large house and isolated family environment create the feeling that Lowen has entered a world separated from ordinary life.
This is a familiar setup for gothic thrillers: an outsider arrives at an impressive but unsettling home and gradually discovers that the people living there have secrets.
The visual design emphasizes this feeling.
The Los Angeles Times praised the film’s luxurious interiors, including the warm wood and stone elements of the Vermont mansion.
The setting also makes the story more claustrophobic. Lowen has nowhere to go for information except the people inside the Crawford household and the documents she discovers.
That makes every new discovery feel more significant.
Is Verity Scary?
Verity is more of a psychological and erotic thriller than a traditional horror movie.
There are disturbing situations, violence, bloody imagery and uncomfortable revelations, but the film’s primary source of tension is uncertainty.
The official classification is R for sexual content, language, some nudity, violence and bloody images.
The movie is therefore better suited to viewers looking for a mature mystery thriller rather than someone expecting supernatural horror.
Much of the suspense comes from questions such as:
- Who is telling the truth?
- What really happened inside the Crawford family?
- Can Lowen trust the manuscript?
- Can Jeremy be trusted?
- Is Verity more aware of her surroundings than she appears?
- What is Lowen actually looking for?
These questions drive the story more than conventional jump scares.
The Film’s Twists
Twists are obviously central to Verity.
Because the story is built around conflicting versions of events, the audience is encouraged to reconsider earlier scenes as new information appears.
This can be entertaining for viewers who enjoy movies that leave room for interpretation.
Rotten Tomatoes’ audience reviews include viewers who specifically praised the twists and said the movie kept them guessing. Some audience members also mentioned enjoying the ambiguous ending.
However, not every viewer will appreciate the same approach.
Several critics have argued that the movie’s twists eventually become excessive or undermine the logic of the story. Screen Daily described the film as a knowingly sensational thriller whose outrageous developments eventually overwhelm its internal logic.
This difference between audience and critic reactions is worth considering.
If you enjoy melodramatic thrillers and don’t mind exaggerated storytelling, the twists may be part of the fun.
If you prefer tightly constructed mysteries where every plot development has a realistic explanation, some parts may feel frustrating.
The Ending and Ambiguity
One of the most discussed aspects of Verity is the ending.
Without giving away every detail, the movie deliberately leaves viewers questioning which version of events should be believed.
This is consistent with the film’s larger theme.
The title itself points toward the concept of truth, but the movie continually makes truth difficult to establish.
Entertainment Weekly’s ending explanation notes that the story ultimately leaves important questions unresolved and presents competing explanations concerning Verity’s manuscript and later letter.
This means that two viewers can finish the film and reach different interpretations of what happened.
For some people, that is the appeal.
For others, it can feel unsatisfying.
The effectiveness of the ending therefore depends heavily on how comfortable the viewer is with ambiguity.
How Faithful Is the Movie to the Book?
Fans of Colleen Hoover’s novel will likely recognize the major story structure.
The film follows the central premise of the book: Lowen is hired to complete Verity’s successful series, moves into the Crawford home and discovers disturbing material that changes her understanding of Verity and her family.
Critics have generally described the movie as relatively faithful to the source material while making some changes and omissions for the screen.
The Los Angeles Times noted that the screenplay is remarkably faithful to the novel while condensing the story.
Rotten Tomatoes’ first-review roundup also reports that several critics considered the movie a fairly accurate adaptation, although some felt that it did not go far enough in exploring the book’s stranger or darker qualities.
That may make the film particularly interesting for readers who want to see how the controversial novel translates to the screen.
What Critics Like
The positive reactions to Verity tend to focus on several areas.
Strong central cast
The combination of Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett gives the movie recognizable star power.
The three actors also have different screen personalities, which helps create uncertainty about their characters.
Stylish presentation
The Vermont mansion and surrounding environment give the film a polished, atmospheric appearance.
Mystery
The movie gives viewers plenty of questions to consider.
Ambiguous storytelling
People who enjoy endings that can be interpreted in different ways may appreciate the film.
Dark entertainment
Some reviewers have found the movie entertaining precisely because it embraces its melodramatic material.
The Los Angeles Times described the movie as “high camp” and praised its playful approach to the material.
Time Out similarly described it as a wild and entertaining ride despite its exaggerated elements.
What Critics Dislike
The negative reactions also follow some consistent themes.
Plot logic
Some critics believe the movie asks viewers to accept too many unlikely developments.
Character development
Several reviews argue that the characters could have been explored more deeply.
Pacing
The film’s first portion establishes an intriguing mystery, but some reviewers feel that momentum decreases as the story moves toward its revelations.
Too many twists
A thriller can become less effective when every new revelation attempts to be more shocking than the previous one.
Ambiguous resolution
Some viewers will enjoy the uncertainty, while others may want clearer answers.
The Guardian specifically criticized plot holes and what it considered an unsatisfying resolution, while Variety similarly questioned the film’s ability to provide the depth needed to support its dramatic ambitions.
Overall Audience Experience
The audience response appears more varied than the critical response.
Some viewers describe Verity as an enjoyable mystery with strong twists, while others find the story predictable or overly dramatic. Rotten Tomatoes’ audience section includes viewers who praised the cast, acting and mystery, as well as viewers who felt the adaptation moved too quickly through material that was more detailed in the book.
That division makes sense given the nature of the movie.
Verity isn’t trying to be a realistic family drama. It is a heightened psychological thriller built around secrets, attraction, manipulation and competing versions of the truth.
Viewers who approach it expecting a realistic investigation may react differently from viewers who approach it as an entertaining gothic melodrama.
Final Thoughts
Verity is an atmospheric psychological thriller built around one simple but effective question: What if you cannot determine which version of the truth to believe?
The film benefits from its three principal actors, its isolated setting and its deliberately mysterious storyline. Anne Hathaway brings considerable theatrical energy to Verity, Dakota Johnson provides a more restrained perspective through Lowen, and Josh Hartnett adds uncertainty to Jeremy.
The movie’s greatest strength is also its biggest potential weakness: ambiguity.
Some viewers will enjoy being left with questions after the credits. Others may feel that the film should provide stronger answers and a more logically consistent resolution.
The movie also works best when viewed as heightened thriller entertainment rather than a completely realistic psychological drama. Its gothic atmosphere, romantic tension, disturbing revelations and unexpected turns are clearly designed to keep audiences engaged.
For fans of Colleen Hoover’s novel, the film provides an opportunity to see the controversial story translated into a major motion picture. For newcomers, it offers a mystery involving a famous writer, a struggling ghostwriter, a complicated marriage and a manuscript that may—or may not—tell the truth.
Ultimately, Verity is a movie that encourages discussion because the central mystery isn’t simply what happened. It is also who should be believed.
And that question continues beyond the final scene.
Current review context: Verity opened widely in theaters on October 2, 2026, has a runtime of approximately 1 hour 54 minutes, and is rated R for sexual content, language, some nudity, violence and bloody images.
