Theatrical review
Verity
2026 · Drama / thriller
Seen in theatres
5 / 10
Good enough. Had its moments.
Jeff’s final score for Verity — one man, one couch, one honest number.
Content advisoryNot recommended for young children; gory scenes, violence, strong sexuality including a scene of self-pleasure, scenes discussing death, scenes depicting death including some involving small children, a scene depicting bodily harm on a young child, some medical discussion and images throughout, some coarse language including sexual dialogue.
Plot summary
This movie follows a former writer who becomes terminally ill following an accident. A woman is assigned to rewrite her story, but she is clearly not who she appears to be, as she soon reveals that the only story she aspires to is one that involves the writer’s husband and young son once the writer is out of the picture for good.
Showtimes and screens vary by city and change week to week — check your local cinema’s listings for current times.
Jeff’s take
I was really excited to see this movie when it came out, as I felt like it sort of had a Halloween feel to it since we are in that season. I have to say I was shocked when I watched this film, as its premise is sort of misleading. From having watched the trailer, I prematurely came to the conclusion that Anne Hathaway’s character was already dead and that this movie’s premise was that the woman was hallucinating her being alive as she tried to seduce the husband.
Since Halloween is based on ghosts and frightening elements, I thought it would be good to watch. Without getting into detail, though, this movie really failed to deliver on what I perceived it would be. My best advice to those who have not yet seen this movie is to not watch it unless you are a fan of Anne Hathaway. The rest of this movie would not be worth anyone’s time and, at least as far as I’m concerned, I feel that towards the ending, it really tested my patience. As a matter of fact, if it had not been for Anne Hathaway’s performance in this movie, I would have wasted no time at all failing it.
Jeff-O-Meter final score: 5/10
Verdict
Watch if curious
Since Halloween is based on ghosts and frightening elements, I thought it would be good to watch. Without getting into detail, though, this movie really failed to deliver on what I perceived it would be. My best advice to those who have not yet seen this movie is to not watch it unless you are a fan of Anne Hathaway. The rest of this movie would not be worth anyone’s time and, at least as far as I’m concerned, I feel that towards the ending, it really tested my patience. As a matter of fact, if it had not been for Anne Hathaway’s performance in this movie, I would have wasted no time at all failing it.
5 / 10
Good enough. Had its moments.
Jefferson Bert’s personal author message
In my mind, other than Anne Hathaway’s performance in this film, it has very little to be desired.
At the top of the list of things to hate about this movie is the casting of Dakota Johnson. I have to be honest in saying that I wasn’t really a fan of her before I watched this movie, as every movie I’ve ever seen her in portrays her as a snob who basically acts like she’s better than everyone else.
I don’t know why, but for some reason people believe her to be a sex symbol. She’s not attractive. She’s plain looking and she’s got a big mouth. The problem is that despite the size of her mouth, she always tends to get lucky with some guy at least once. Maybe this is because they’re paid to do that, but it’s true. The best example of this was in the “Fifty Shades Of Grey” movies.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a really big fan of romantic and erotic movies. Whether I would do that myself is irrelevant, but I can stand movies that portray this. However, those movies are not real movies. I’m going to be completely honest. When I watched those movies, I was at a point in my life where the premise of any movie didn’t matter as long as there was intimacy, and it also didn’t matter who did it. As long as there was intimacy, my eyes were glued to the screen no matter what the main plot of any movie was.
Well, truth be told, I was getting a headache from all the intimacy. Every five minutes throughout the series, there was either sexual dialogue or some type of sex act featured, and almost all of those scenes involved her. I didn’t have a problem with this at the time, but then again, I wasn’t reviewing movies at that point. Maybe it’s my age catching up to me, but I now feel that movies that portray intimacy from start to finish have no good story associated with them and aren’t really worth the review.
Yet every movie that she’s in, she’s rude to people. She thinks she’s better than people and she still does the deed. In this movie, she did something that I simply cannot forgive. Again, I will not say what she did, as I do not want to ruin it for those who have yet to watch this film, but I’m sure audiences will be as angry as I was as they watch this film.
Another problem with this movie is that I find it a complete mockery of terminal illness. The movie hit a sensitive subject for me, so I felt that the way the illness was handled was very poor. It seemed to suggest that people who are terminally ill should have no chance at recovering, and that once a person is diagnosed, it’s all downhill from there.
There were also some scenes near the end of this film involving the illness that I felt were a slap in the face to people who are seriously ill. I wish I could divulge what actually happens, but I can’t, as I know it would defeat the purpose of anyone watching. I will say this, though: Anne Hathaway gives the performance of her career, as she was basically portrayed as the victim. They really should have changed the name of this movie to “Everybody Turns on Anne Hathaway for No Reason When She Needs Them Most.” This title would pretty much sum up my entire opinion on this movie.
Other than some side characters, Anne Hathaway is the reason that this movie won’t fail completely, and Dakota Johnson should basically take the walk of shame—not just for her performance in this film, but any movie I’ve seen her in and any movie I will have the unfortunate displeasure of seeing her in moving forward.
To be honest, I feel like I sort of owe it to Anne Hathaway to watch another one of her movies to make up for this one not receiving the praise that her acting deserves. As soon as I can find one, I will be sure to watch it. I mean, it wasn’t her fault this movie was a flop; it was everybody else’s fault. However, she was a real trooper in this film. It will not completely fail, but I’m sure if anyone else was cast, it would have failed completely.
Having said that, I’m not heartless, and I will give credit where it is due. For this movie in particular, all the credit goes to Anne Hathaway!
By: Jefferson Bert