Verity review: Blame it (mostly) on the source material
Ever since the success of It Ends With Us, film adaptations of Colleen Hoover books have been coming thick and fast. Verity is the third one within the space of a year, following Regretting You and Reminders of Him. Having read this one, I had concerns about the adaptation and I was right to be worried!
The film stars Dakota Johnson as Lowen Ashleigh, an under-the-radar author hired by a publishing house to finish the Noble Virtues, the hugely successful book series by Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway). Verity has been in a car accident and can no longer walk or talk and the series needs to be completed by someone else. Verity’s husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett) invites Lowen to move into their remote Vermont home to sort through her plans for the novels. She becomes consumed by Verity’s work and convinced that she’s faking her catatonic state. What’s the truth?
In this film’s defence, the book is not good. You can only improve upon shaky source material so much. The dodgy plot and dumb twists? The underwhelming, ridiculous ending? That’s all in the book. However, they could have easily upgraded the dialogue, but nope, it’s as bad as in the book. There are some differences, but it is a pretty faithful adaptation, to its detriment.
Even though the book wasn’t great, it was still a gripping, easy and exciting read. But the movie isn’t even that. It doesn’t capture Lowen’s paranoia well enough or leave you questioning if she’s losing her mind or really seeing Verity move. Nor does it build the sexual tension between Lowen and Jeremy gradually enough. Nor does it adequately bring to life two pivotal sequences that were super exciting to read (those two moments are simplified too much). There are flashes of what it could have been – a 90s-style erotic thriller or a campy melodrama – but it is ultimately a conventional drama with thrilling moments.
Hathaway has played this type of character before (see Eileen and Mother’s Instinct) and she does it well but she’s in a different movie from the others. She’s in camp villain land with a deep, dark voice, because she’s a creation of Lowen’s imagination rather than a real human being. Johnson could have emoted more or played into the paranoia more. Hartnett seemed to be the only one really trying, and it’s nice to have him back on my screen.
I didn’t have high hopes for Verity and I was still disappointed. It could have leaned into the silly plot and been trashier, campier, or at least dumb fun, but it takes itself far too seriously.
In cinemas from Friday 2nd October