^{Verity (Amazon MGM Studios)}

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I wasn’t the biggest fan of Verity several months ago when it was called The Housemaid. Both films center on a struggling young woman who goes to live with a wealthy couple and their child. The wife is seemingly mentally ill, the husband seems too good to be true, and the kid is just kind of there. Sexual tensions rise as our protagonist settles in, but an enemy may be sleeping under the same roof. The Housemaid was a hit, and Verity will likely appeal to a similar demographic, especially if they’re Colleen Hoover fans. My issue is that both films aim for camp, yet neither is fun, self-aware, or exploitative enough to be a smutty good time. They’re airplane movies, just as Verity Crawford’s books are the kind you’d buy at an airport.

Dakota Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, who’s just having the worst week. Hardly anyone showed up to her book reading, her mother passed away, and she gets covered in blood upon witnessing a horrific traffic accident. At least the latter leads to a meet-cute(?) with Josh Hartnett’s Jeremy. He just so happens to be the husband of best-selling author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), who has built a book empire on devious characters. After a traumatic event apparently leaves Verity unresponsive, though, Lowen is asked to be her ghostwriter. Lowen accepts, moving in with Jeremy and Verity, who may not be as catatonic as she lets on.

If one person understood the assignment here, it’s Hathaway. Although Verity spends most of the film withdrawn, Lowen finds an unpublished manuscript that provides a window into a dark soul. In flashbacks, Hathaway is given a chance to chew the scenery (literally, as Verity bites the bed during sex). Hathaway echoes Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl, soaking up every juicy line delivery and salivating to the point of almost drooling blood. Even when staring off into space, Hathaway has more charisma here than Johnson. That said, this is one of the film’s biggest issues. Following the aforementioned car accident, Johnson looks more inconvenienced than anything else. Jeremy tells Lowen that he isn’t sure if she’s calm or in shock. Neither can we.

Johnson has a similar underreaction to virtually every twist and turn in Verity. With Madame Web and the Fifty Shades trilogy, Johnson has become an easy target, but she’s proven her worth in other films like Cha Cha Real Smooth, Materialists, and Splitsville. While Johnson’s performance in Verity isn’t her worst, she struggles to carry a film that’s already pretty flimsy. It feels like a missed opportunity that Hathaway and Johnson don't have more scenes together, despite being the two main selling points. Although Verity has an enticing setup, it drags on for almost two hours. Just when the film starts to gain momentum in the third act, it rushes to an ending that’s not as clever as it thinks it is. If anything, it’s predictable and underdeveloped.

Director Michael Showalter, who had made some good movies like The Big Sick, turns in a stylish and seductively shot thriller. Nick Antosca’s script doesn’t take full advantage of its premise, however. The film never quite knows whether Verity is supposed to be a menacing or sympathetic character. Maybe that’s intentional, given the vague nature of the ending. The final note isn’t so much ambiguous as it is tonally confused, however. I won’t give away the ending, but I will say it involves Sean Evans from Hot Ones. By this point, somebody on set or in the editing room really should’ve said, “Guys, what are we doing here?”

Awards Prospects:                     

People's Choice Award 

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Available Now!