By Matthew Moorcroft

Unsure

• Directed by Michael Showalter
• Starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett, Ismael Cruz Cordova
• R

The common refrain about writers is that they love to write about other writers. Makes sense as well, considering that one of the earliest lessons many writers will impart is that you should “write what you know”. So, at some point in their career, the majority of writers will ultimately try their hand at writing a narrative that itself is about writing and the nature of fiction; it worked wonders for Stephen King so might as well give it a shot, right?

The latest in a now regular stream of Colleen Hoover adaptations, Verity is a film directly about writing and fiction and how it can warp the perception of the people around them. For a story by Hoover, it’s certainly a far cry from her other work, though her trademarks are still here mostly in the form of a steamy romance between two hot characters with complicated pasts that are bound to come undone as the story progresses.

And it’s mostly trash, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Relishing it’s deeply unserious twists with the same enthusiasm one would dive into fast food the doctor told them they really shouldn’t be eating, Verity understands what it is and what it’s trying to do on a core level, which makes it a fun, if extremely messy and purposefully convoluted thriller that never really figures out what point it’s trying to make. But do you really need a point when you also have two of the hottest actors you can think of in a really awesome looking house doing hot stuff? I thought not.

Don’t be fooled by Anne Hathaway’s placement on the poster and her top billing, for while her portrayal of Verity Crawford is certainly campy fun (especially in flashback sequences that feel almost comically evil in some of the ways that she manifests herself), the real focus is on Dakota Johnson as a ghostwriter hired to finish Verity’s books after an accident hidden from the press. Johnson is up to the task as a somewhat isolated but well meaning young woman who eventually becomes seduced by the idea of replacing an author that she respected only to find that she may have not been who she thought she was. Both women clearly know the material here and play up the melodrama as much as they can, chewing the scenery both figuratively and literally in some cases.

It’s good the cast performances are committed since, while the actual script and dialogue are as nutty as you would expect from this kind of flick – this is a film that opens up with an interview that lasts 30 seconds before leading into the most batshit meet cute you’ll see in theaters this year – Showalter’s direction is mostly there to service the needs of the narrative rather then make a style his own. On the one hand, this somewhat plainer style of direction outside of a couple of fun tricks of the hand does mean the focus is all on the actors and their expressions, but unfournately it also means while Verity is certainly fun in it’s best moments, there is a languid pace to it’s middle section that prevents it from being the camp classic it so desperately wants to be. It’s opening and end sections are trashy fun, it’s second act is mostly plodding with bursts of insanity.

But in some ways, that’s really part of the appeal isn’t it? Much of the inevitable visceral reaction you will likely have to Verity in it’s final act is due to how out of nowhere it actually is; a twist so ludicrous that is reaches back around into pure soapy fun. And then, on top of that, the twist in the middle of the twist – it’s one of those pictures – upends that entirely and makes you go cross-eyed in a way that you will either love or hate depending on your tolerance for rug-pulling. For audiences who are more inclined to forgive that sort of narrative contrivance for the sake of a good time, Verity will strike a chord.

No reason to pretend that Verity is “good” by any stretch of the imagination, especially considering that it’s got holes by the dozens and it’s cast speak like aliens who just learned what the English language was fifteen minutes before filming began. But Verity is certainly a blast of a time, and there is reason to celebrate a flick that feels it’s come from a by-gone era; a mid budget adult thriller that is mostly there to celebrate the hot movie stars at it’s center. And that alone makes Verity something of a worthy time at the movies, just make sure you have some kind of substance with you to help.