Arabic version: «فيريتي» ينقل إثارة كولين هوفر إلى دور السينما

According to ABC News, psychological thriller Verity is the latest Colleen Hoover novel to receive a film adaptation. The film stars Dakota Johnson as struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh, who is hired to ghostwrite for renowned author Verity Crawford, played by Oscar winner Anne Hathaway. Josh Hartnett plays Verity’s husband, Jeremy Crawford.

Lowen’s assignment begins under mysterious circumstances after Jeremy recruits her. As she works, she discovers what appear to be chilling autobiographical confessions in Verity’s notes. The revelations leave Lowen confronting disturbing and twisted material. The film is now in cinemas.

Critical responses have varied sharply. The Sydney Morning Herald described the film as “perfect for these post-truth times”, while Mamamia called it a “delicious” thriller. The Nightly called it “diabolical” and said it was “embarrassing” for its A-list stars to be “dragged” into the film. Who categorised it as a “straight to DVD territory” type of movie.

Verity follows other recent Hoover adaptations, including Reminders of Him in 2026 and Regretting You in 2025. Hoover’s 2024 adaptation It Ends with Us was overshadowed by off-screen legal conflict between its stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, whose civil case has been settled.

The film is based on Hoover’s worldwide best-selling novel, her first thriller. Hoover was the first self-published author to top The New York Times bestseller list in 2012, and did so again with Verity in 2018. Director Michael Showalter said he aimed to keep the film close to the book: “My approach was to do it the way it was in the book wherever possible.”