Verity Review: A Beautifully Shot Thriller That's Better Than the Critics Are Telling You

Four stars. Colleen Hoover's most disturbing novel finally hits the screen, and despite the mixed word going around, it got more right than wrong.

Let's address the chatter first, because there's been a lot of it. Verity, the adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling thriller, arrived carrying a wave of mixed reactions, from critics and from fans who caught early screenings, with a fair few declaring it a disappointment not worth the ticket. So we will be honest, we walked in with our expectations lowered and our guard up. And we walked out surprised, because this is a far better film than the noise suggested, and in some ways a beautiful one.

The first thing that struck us, before any of the performances, was simply how gorgeous it is to look at. The film opens in a grey, yellow-tinged New York before moving out to Vermont in the depths of winter, all snow and lake and isolated cabin, and the whole thing is shot in these muted greens, greys, and blues that gave us an almost Twilight-like hush. Inside the house, the lighting turns warm and yellow, the kind of soft, lived-in glow that pulls you straight into the atmosphere rather than holding you at arm's length with harsh studio light. For us, that coloring was perfect. It set the mood before a twist landed, and it made the film feel like somewhere you were actually sitting, uneasy and cozy at once.

Anne Hathaway is, unsurprisingly, excellent, and there is something fitting about her closing out a remarkable year on screen with a role like this. Josh Hartnett is wonderful too, even if he does seem to keep getting cast as the tormented, tearful, not-quite-trustworthy man, because the truth is he plays that character beautifully. Dakota Johnson has drawn the most criticism, and while we'd push back on most of it, we understand where some of it comes from. She tends to play the mellow, melancholic type, and she does it well here, but there were moments we wanted more from her, more heat, more tears, more anger breaking through the stillness. That restraint occasionally left scenes wanting.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Here is something we have not been able to stop thinking about since the credits rolled, and it is the detail that tells us this film is cleverer than it is being given credit for. Blood runs through the entire story as a deliberate motif. In one of the opening scenes, Lowen witnesses a man killed in the street and ends up covered in his blood, with Jeremy rushing her to clean up. Later, the Verity's young son cuts himself, and Jeremy returns from the hospital, again covered in blood, prompting Lowen to remark, almost as a joke, that blood seems to be the thing uniting them. And not long after, they are covered in it once more, metaphorically, together. The entire relationship is built, visually and thematically, on blood. It is the throughline you only fully notice on reflection, and it is far more thoughtful than a so-called disappointment has any right to be.

As for the story, it is an adaptation, so the usual rule applies: if you loved the book, you will almost certainly like the film, or not. The twists are there, and while some are more obvious than the film seems to think, the central turn still lands, especially for anyone going in without having read the novel. For most of the film, we follow who we assume is the villain, certain that Verity is the monster of the piece, only for the ending to tilt the whole thing on its axis and suggest the real danger may have been her husband all along.

Verity refuses to hand you a tidy resolution. There is Verity's version of events, her husband's version, and then the manuscript she wrote – three competing truths, and the film never tells you which to believe. It leaves you suspended in the ambiguity, forced to decide for yourself, just as Lowen has to decide who she trusts as she steps into a new life with this man and his children. We know open endings frustrate some people, but we loved this one. It trusts you to sit in the discomfort and draw your own conclusions.

Is it perfect? No. The script could have used another pass, and Johnson's performance leaves a little on the table. But not every film needs to be an Oscar contender to be worth your evening. Verity is a beautifully shot, well-cast, genuinely atmospheric thriller that does far more right than the early chatter would have you believe. Go in with an open mind, and we think you'll be pleasantly surprised too.