Verity
NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour discusses the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's "Verity," a domestic thriller starring Dakota Johnson and Anne Hathaway. The panelists offer mixed reviews, praising Anne Hathaway's performance and the film's ambitious premise while criticizing Dakota Johnson's muted acting, insufficient campiness, and an ambiguous ending that fails to satisfy the thriller genre's contract with audiences.
Summary
The Pop Culture Happy Hour panel discusses the newly released film "Verity," adapted from Colleen Hoover's bestselling novel and directed by Michael Showalter. The story follows Loewen Ashley (Dakota Johnson), a struggling novelist hired to ghostwrite books for superstar author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), who is catatonic after a car accident. Josh Hartnett plays Verity's husband Jeremy, and as Loewen explores Verity's manuscripts, she discovers a mysterious journal that raises questions about the true nature of the people around her.
Jordan Cruciola expresses enthusiasm for the film, praising its tonal shifts and the performances, particularly Anne Hathaway's work in her catatonic state. She appreciates how the film opens with a shocking "grotesque meet cute" that sets the tone for the entire narrative. Aisha Harris, however, expresses frustration with Dakota Johnson's detached performance, comparing her unfavorably to actresses like Sydney Sweeney and Aubrey Plaza who she believes would have brought more energy to the role. Harris argues the film lacks sufficient campiness and should embrace the absurdity of its premise more fully, similar to "The Housemaid."
Linda Holmes agrees with Harris's critique, noting that while she appreciates Dakota Johnson's particular brand of deadpan delivery in some contexts, the film suffers from pacing issues and scripting problems that extend beyond the lead actress. She points out that Michael Showalter, known for comedy in "Wet Hot American Summer," and screenwriter Nick Antosca failed to find the right tonal gear for this gothic, campy thriller. Holmes suggests that involving a female director or screenwriter might have yielded a better result.
The panel discusses the film's ambitious but problematic ambiguous ending, which leaves fundamental questions about character morality unanswered. Holmes expresses her general disdain for ambiguous endings in thrillers unless they serve a thematic purpose, arguing they violate the genre's implicit contract with audiences. While Jordan acknowledges some appreciation for how boldly nonsensical the ending feels, she notes it undermines Dakota Johnson's character's motivations, which feel unmotivated and out of place. The panel learns that Colleen Hoover added a bonus epilogue to the book after publication that essentially answers the questions left hanging in the original ambiguous ending.
Regarding the film's erotic elements, the panelists agree the movie is not particularly sexy, despite attempting sensuality through close-ups of fingers, mouths, and biting. Harris criticizes the effortful nature of these scenes, describing them as resembling how "robots would make sexy" based on observations of actual sexiness. A particularly discussed fantasy sequence features unmotivated red lighting and dream-within-a-dream confusion that, while ambitious, doesn't generate genuine chemistry or sensuality between the characters.
The panel concludes with acknowledgment that despite mixed critical reception, the film will likely attract Colleen Hoover's devoted fanbase, though the screening they attended seemed notably muted compared to the enthusiastic audience response to similar domestic thrillers.
About this episode
<em>Verity </em>stars Dakota Johnson as a struggling novelist who gets an unusual assignment. She's been asked to ghostwrite the final books by a superstar writer, played by Anne Hathaway. It’s an erotic thriller about marriage, manipulators, and (of course) murder. Based on Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, <em>Verity</em> is a story of deceit that wants you to keep guessing until the very end, and maybe even after that.<br /><br /><strong>Looking for more books adapted for the screen? Check out these episodes:</strong><br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/02/13/nx-s1-5712290/wuthering-heights-is-rude-moody-and-broody" target="_blank">"Wuthering Heights" is rude, moody and broody</a><br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/01/07/nx-s1-5662521/no-other-choice-is-the-perfect-movie-for-our-moment" target="_blank">'No Other Choice' is the perfect movie for our moment</a><br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/12/16/788456363/little-women-is-a-dynamic-sister-act" target="_blank">'Little Women' Is A Dynamic Sister Act</a><br /><br />Connect with Pop Culture Happy Hour:<br /><a href="https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/" target="_blank">Letterboxd</a> / <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pchh" target="_blank">Facebook</a><br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/newsletter/pop-culture" target="_blank">Our weekly newsletter</a><br />Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/" target="_blank">plus.npr.org</a>.<br /><br />See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>
Key Insights
- Linda Holmes argues that ambiguous endings in thrillers violate an implicit contract with audiences, and that such endings only work when the ambiguity itself becomes the thematic point, as in Inception, rather than serving as a narrative gimmick to avoid definitive answers.
- Aisha Harris contends that Dakota Johnson's detached, minimal emotional performance throughout her career functions as a bug rather than a feature in this particular film, arguing that actresses like Sydney Sweeney or Aubrey Plaza would have brought necessary energy to the character.
- The panel identifies a disconnect between director Michael Showalter's proven ability to execute camp in comedies like Wet Hot American Summer and his failure to find that tonal register in this gothic thriller, despite reportedly trying to push Dakota Johnson toward campier acting.
- Jordan Cruciola observes that all characters in Verity, regardless of the 'truth' about their morality, have made choices that are absurd and maniacal, making the ambiguous ending philosophically significant even if narratively frustrating.
- Colleen Hoover's post-publication addition of a bonus epilogue to the novel that answers the questions left ambiguous in the original ending reveals the author essentially retracted the ambiguous ending choice, suggesting even the creator recognized audiences wanted definitive answers.
Topics
Transcript
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