Review: Verity

Image courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.

For those who didn't get enough campy thrills about a stranger moving in with a mysterious couple with last year's "The Housemaid," Michael Showalter's "Verity" is likely to satiate that appetite. The film is a mostly effective thriller that only starts to fall apart when you stop to think about how significant elements of its plot make absolutely no sense and how its ending is less of an open ended mystery than somewhat of a cop out.

But problems aside, "Verity" is a mostly amusing thriller based on a novel from Colleen Hoover, who is also responsible for the soapy novels-turned-films "It Ends With Us" and "Reminders of Him." The film starts Dakota Johnson as Lowen Ashleigh, an author of mystery novels whose work has yet to bring her widespread success. One day, after witnessing a particularly grueling traffic-related accident that leaves her soaked in blood, she meets Jeremy Crawford (Josh Hartnett), the husband of wildly popular thriller novelist Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway).

Lowen is told that Verity is having difficulty finishing a series of popular - and very dark - novels due to an accident and asked if she's interested in a gig that would involve moving in with the Crawfords and helping Verity to finish the series. Notably, all of Verity's novels are told from the perspectives of their villains.

The job turns out to be much more challenging than originally presented as Verity is in a coma, of sorts, that prevents her from moving or saying anything. Most of the time, she barely registers anything or anyone. So, it is up to Lowen to fish through Verity's notes to create the final novels in the series. Jeremy acts as the accommodating host and Lowen is taken by the Crawford's shy young son (Brady Wagner).

Not long after arriving at the Crawford's secluded Vermont home, Lowen discovers what appears to be either a journal or an autobiography written by Verity that tells the story of her marriage to Jeremy and her early career highlights, and includes some disturbing material - for example, the couple's young daughter died by drowning in the lake behind their house.

Things begin to get weirder and darker during Lowen's stay and she and Jeremy become close. Meanwhile, Lowen begins to become obsessed with the idea that Verity isn't as incapacitated as she seems and even starts to believe she sees her lurking around the house.

Subtlety is not the film's strong suit - I mean, the author who is spilling her secrets in a journal is named Verity and Lowen's most recent novel is titled, ahem, "Open Ended." To enjoy the film, one must be willing to engage in large leaps of faith. I won't give away any of the film's twists, but there's a plot line surrounding Verity's possibly faking her malady that makes no sense whatsoever when one considers how much wealth and power that she must have as a bestselling author.

Much like "The Housemaid," I won't go as far as saying that "Verity" is a good movie. It's often amusing and moves along swiftly enough until its plot twists begin dropping late in the film. The cast is good and Hathaway seems to be having a great time vamping it up as the possibly (or not) sinister titular character. It's a somewhat lurid film with some pleasures to be found, if one can navigate past the occasionally gaping plot holes and just enjoy it for the campy thriller that intends to be.