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# Verity
- URL: https://www.afterimages.film/verity/
- Published: 2026-10-15T01:52:44.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-15T01:52:44.000Z
- Description: Dakota Johnson neuters the crucial elements of an otherwise entertaining psychological erotic thriller.
- Author: Dennis Ramirez
- Tags: Impressions, First Time Watch, In Theaters, 2026, Score: 6, #rating-6

### Review

[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdPMKhjMSFs&ref=afterimages.film)[](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32261958/?ref=afterimages.film)[](https://boxd.it/MYia?ref=afterimages.film)[](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1283515-verity/watch?locale=US&ref=afterimages.film)

Of the three people who showed up to the reading of her new book, only one was paying attention (and barely, at that). This would be disheartening for any aspiring writer, but all Lowen Ashleigh's (Dakota Johnson) focused on is her grief over her recently passed mother. Her agent calls after the reading with a mysterious but urgent meeting she absolutely can't miss, and on her way there she's witness to a horrific car accident that leaves her covered in blood. Inexplicably, this becomes a morbid meet-cute with Jeremy (Josh Hartnett), a kind, handsome bystander who helps shake her out of her shock and gives her his dress shirt to wear since hers is blood-soaked. 

Alas, her meeting is too urgent, and while this feels destined for the missed-connection pages, when she arrives, wouldn't you know it, Jeremy is there. Even more surprising, he's the husband of Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), an acclaimed author who's been rendered catatonic in a recent car accident. They want Lowen to ghostwrite the rest of Verity's latest novel, lest her fans abandon the series and the publishers lose money. Reluctant at first, Jeremy convinces her to take the job, which means temporarily living at the Crawfords' immaculate lakeside home where she can sift through Verity's notes and research to finish the novel. But Lowen's dive into Verity's notes uncovers disturbing secrets hidden at the heart of the Crawford family.

*Verity* wants to be erotic and psychological, but its sex is too tame and its plot too ludicrous to be either. Still, it turns a level of soap opera reveals into a decent thriller. The primary obstacle keeping this from becoming a full-on tawdry, camp delight is Dakota Johnson. No matter what new insane plot twist she encounters, the energy of her performance never rises above the blank-faced dissociation of Lowen's early grief, even when she's in mortal danger. These over-the-top stories require overacting to sell, and while her monotone style of acting has worked before (see *Suspiria*), she is sadly miscast here.

On the other hand, Anne Hathaway completely understands the assignment. Even though Verity is catatonic, we get flashbacks of her before the accident, and Anne Hathaway is overflowing with sultry femme fatale energy even though she barely speaks, save for purring and cooing through her voiceover narration of the scenes. *She* is in an erotic thriller. Dakota Johnson is sleepwalking through one.

Josh Hartnett brings a calm and effortless charm to Jeremy; so much that you overlook he might be hiding something. His chemistry with Anne Hathaway in the flashbacks is what the movie needs, but this is Lowen's story, and any moments of temptation between them fall flat because there's zero chemistry.

Uneven performances aside, the screenplay moves briskly, and I'd swear in court that the film's 2-hour runtime felt like a 90-minute breeze, max. I was never bored throughout, and even though the escalating turns and twists make no sense with even a moment's extra thought, their outlandishness kept me engaged. It's a shame the film's feeble conclusion couldn't match the buildup.

![Verity](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/zPHfsaiMZT1HNz1ZS55iyLKZkFG.jpg) 

Director

#### Michael Showalter

Budget

##### $40M

Release Date

Released

##### Sep 30, 2026

Runtime

##### 1h 54m

[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdPMKhjMSFs&ref=afterimages.film) [ ](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32261958/?ref=afterimages.film) [ ](https://boxd.it/MYia?ref=afterimages.film) [ ](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1283515-verity/watch?locale=US&ref=afterimages.film) 

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