Verity arrives in UK cinemas on Friday 2 October 2026 as a glossy psychological thriller built around a pulpy hook: what happens when a struggling writer moves into the home of a bestselling novelist who may be far more dangerous than anyone realises?
Directed by Michael Showalter and written by Nick Antosca, the 1-hour-54-minute Amazon MGM Studios production adapts Colleen Hoover’s 2018 bestseller. Dakota Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, a blocked writer hired to finish the hit series of Verity Crawford after the author is left comatose. Moving into the Crawford estate with Verity’s husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett) and young son Crew (Brady Wagner), Lowen uncovers a manuscript that appears to confess to terrible acts, turning the job into a murky battle between desire, suspicion and self-interest.
The premise is undeniably hooky, and the film generates some early atmosphere from its isolated mansion setting and its sense that everyone may be hiding something. But as the revelations stack up, the plotting turns clunky and over-engineered. The adaptation wants the lurid pleasures of a full-blooded erotic thriller, yet plays much of it with oddly muted restraint. That leaves the suspense flatter than it should be, with the film stuck between glossy psychological drama and shamelessly trashy fun.
Hathaway is the clear standout. As Verity, she embraces the chance to turn her polished screen persona inside out, delivering a camp, scenery-chewing performance filled with sly menace and theatrical relish. Her flashback scenes have the necessary wicked energy, and even her largely confined scenes carry the suggestion that Verity is always controlling the room.
Johnson brings vulnerability and wary intelligence to Lowen, although the script gives her limited emotional material beyond suspicion and attraction. Hartnett is suitably enigmatic as Jeremy, but the central romance generates little heat, making Lowen’s growing obsession harder to accept. Ismael Cruz Cordova’s Corey adds intrigue but is underused.
Showalter gives the film an expensive sheen, with moody interiors and sleek production design creating a suitable sense of unease. Yet the climax’s twist lands as frustrating and self-defeating rather than genuinely shocking.
Verdict: A decent streaming-style thriller for the plane, but not the erotic-thriller event Colleen Hoover fans were promised. The cast deserves a sharper, stranger and more confident film.
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