Erica Siaulinski, Staff Writer
Based on the best selling novel by author Colleen Hoover, Verity hit theaters on October 2nd, and critics had a lot to say.
The psychological thriller book originally published in 2018 follows a young woman, Lowen Ashleigh, hired to be a ghost writer for a well respected author, Verity Crawford who is struggling with a disability after a car accident following the death of her young twin daughters. Lowen moves into the Crawford home where Verity lives with her husband and son. Jermey Crawford, Verity’s husband, forms a quick relationship with Lowen. As Lowen begins to dive further into Verity’s past writing projects she discovers something incredibly disturbing in one manuscript alone. Leaving her and Verity’s husband unsure of what to do.
The movie stars Josh Hartnett as Jermey Crawford, Dakota Johnson as Lowen Ashleigh, and Anne Hathaway as Verity Crawford. The cast reported enjoying working with each other on set. When asked about their characters, Josh Harnett had this to say “I was always playing the hero… and I think it’s so much fun to be able to play characters that the more you get into them, the deeper and darker they get.”
Anne Hathaway talked a little about what it was like to also play a deeper role, the role of a woman and mother who had lost a lot in her life, and who struggled to watch someone move into her home and essentially replaced her. When asked, as a mother, if it was difficult to play a character that was so cruel when it came to her children, this is what Hathaway had to say, “Verity’s very aware of the darkness of what’s inside of the manuscript. I’m very grateful that I don’t relate to that darkness. I’ve learned, after doing this for so many years, how to keep the characters internal without having it come anywhere near my real life. Especially because some of these things, they feel so horrible that you’re just very happy for it to be over, and then you just wipe the slate and never look back.”
When the movie hit the theaters in early October, critics were less than impressed. One review on rotten tomatoes said,“Thought it would be more scary than a psychological thriller. Definitely had a good twist at the end.” Another said “Boring… the architecture was the most interesting part of the whole movie.” This wouldn’t be the first time that Hoover has had a well received book, turned movie not get the best reviews. The 2024 movie, It Ends With Us based on the 2018 novel, received harsh reviews for its “romanticization of domestic violence”, and the 2026 movie, Reminders of Him, based on the novel published originally in 2022, received harsh reviews for its “boring acting”.
Leave a Reply