Verity

That sentence disturbingly comes from the author, known simply as Verity (Anne Hathaway) (think of her as the modern day Danielle Steele). Verity Crawford has made a very successful living as an author. Verity, though, writes psychological and drama-based fiction stories through the lens of the villain. After all, according to Verity, anyone can write from the perspective of the hero or even the victim; to write from the mind and through the lens of a villain is far more interesting, at least for her.

Not all authors are as successful as Verity. Take, for example, Lowren Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson). She’s had a couple of successes but they’re JUST enough to make ends meet, nothing else. Her book readings at local libraries are not very well attended. She’s not sure what to do at this point. But opportunity has a funny way of knocking when you least expect it.

As Ashleigh witnesses a horrific crash, some of the victim’s blood splashes into her face and on her clothes. A strange man offers to give her a change of clothes and help her get some of the blood off. “What a kind gesture,” she thinks. But then she sees the same man at an interview she is invited to. “Wait what’s going on here?” she wonders.

It turns out that strange man is Verity’s husband, Jeremy Crawford (Josh Hartnett). He divulges that Verity suffered from a very horrific car crash in the woods. Verity survived but has been declared catatonic and confined to a wheelchair and hospital bed. “She needs someone to finish her next novel, and she says she is a big fan of your writing, Lowren. Would you be interested in finishing her novel?”.

It would mean, of course, Lowren having to move to the Crawford’s large log cabin in Vermont for a time so she can go through Verity’s notes. Lowren doesn’t even hesitate; she takes the job.

As Lowren meets Verity and gets to know her son, Crew, and the house itself, she can’t help but wonder, how catatonic is Verity really? I mean, Lowren swears she has seen Verity watching her at various moments. Jeremy thinks Lowren is just delusional. Crew, well, doesn’t speak much, so who knows what he’s seen.

Sometimes it’s best to NOT meet your idols.

Have you ever had a moment where your instincts are just overrun by the excitement that’s in your heart and head? Like when you’re watching a movie trailer online and you’re like “Oh this looks amazing. I just HAVE to see this movie,” but something is telling you in the back of your head, “Wait, something’s not right. What am I missing here?” But you brush it off and say, “I’m overthinking it. Surely something like this premise can’t be twisted into something ungodly and perverse right?” Next as you drive home, “I can’t even fathom what I just witnessed?”

If you answered “yes” to any or all of those questions, like I did, then you’ll realize that maybe, just maybe, you made a really horrible mistake and that just because a trailer shows something doesn’t mean you’re getting the full picture. In the back of my mind I tried to brush off the instincts that told me, “Wait, Dakota Johnson is in it. That’s not a good sign.”

Why did I single out Dakota Johnson? Well, for those who may be unfamiliar with that name, maybe three extremely erotic, disgusting sex heavy films, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Fifty Shades Freed,” might jog your memory. Yes, THAT Dakota Johnson, the one who, on screen, engaged in horribly, ungodly sexual acts with her partner/boyfriend/employer or whatever he was to her. She’s also the star of that extremely feministic, ultra liberal poorly written film “Madame Web.” I should have seen her name and said “No way. There’s no way I’m going to support an actress like that.” No, I just saw Anne Hathaway and Josh Hartnett and said, “Yep, I gotta see this.”

Don’t believe the lie. While, yes, “Verity” is a well-paced and constructed psychological drama, and there are some strong spoken and unspoken performances by Josh Hartnett and Anne Hathaway (Dakota Johnson I could take or leave), once you get about 20-30 minutes into the film you’re gonna wonder, “What did I just get myself into and how do I get myself out of it?”

Once the story gets about half way done, the sexual content and graphic nudity increase a hundred fold. It wasn’t the heavily buttered popcorn that made me nauseous, it was the graphic sexual content and nudity, which truth be told, has always made me feel uncomfortable in the theater, perhaps it’s because in my mind and in my heart I know that sex and seeing your partner nude is something ONLY reserved for marriage and not before that and watching it in a theater, to me, it’s not entertainment, and it’s never anything that advances the plot, it’s just a blatant disregard of an act sanctioned by God for only married individuals.

Additionally the graphic violent moments and use of really vulgar language only add insult to injury.

Content of Concern

*WARNING* EXTREMELY Graphic Violence, Nudity and Sexual Content is listed below. Reader discretion is STRONGLY advised***

Okay… here we go…

VIOLENCE: A man is hit in the crosswalk and blood splatters everywhere and onto onlookers (we see his corpse later in the windshield). A character describes how he had to drag a young girl’s body out of a lake after she drowned (we thankfully never see the little girl’s corpse even when this incident is retold two more times). An audible book goes into great graphic detail of the murder of someone’s husband. As a married couple engage in intercourse, a woman bites her husband’s lips and licks his blood off her lips (Lowren is bit by this woman in a dream before she wakes up).

A woman is seen purposely shifting her weight in a canoe to make her children tip over and drown (one child is killed). A boy cuts the roof of his mouth while licking peanut butter off a sharp knife. Someone pushes a pin into Verity’s hand to see if she is really catatonic or just faking it. Someone tries to commit suicide. Someone begins to strangle someone but is stopped by another individual. This other individual, however, suggests that he smother the victim with a pillow so that no DNA is left on the victim and the killer agrees and smothers the victim with a pillow. Two individuals are seen dumping a body into a frozen lake to sink to the bottom. Someone stages an accident. A mother wishes she had never become pregnant and wishes she could kill her children (this also falls in the “Sexual Content” section below).

SEXUAL CONTENT: Extreme. Jeremy and Lowren begin heavily making out on the kitchen counter and then have very graphic sex in the kitchen during a very prolonged sequence, with accompanying groans and sounds. They have graphic sexual intercourse multiple times, including one time where we see Lowren in an outside bath m*strub*ting while dreaming of her and Jeremy having sex. Lowren is seen several times wearing very revealing bras and panties (barely any coverage on either) and even her normal clothes bare cleavage. Lowren has sex, fully nude, with Jeremy (also nude) in a bathroom (also part of the “Nudity” section below). Two women kiss. Sex is described graphically in manuscript. A mother writes multiple times in a journal how she wishes she had never become pregnant and how she wishes she could just kill her children (she states this multiple times).

NUDITY: Extreme. There is both male and female nudity. Lowren is seen in an outdoor bath, with her breasts fully shown, as she m*strub*tes. We see Jeremy naked a few times as well. We see shots of Lowren showering (top of her breasts and her thighs).

VULGAR LANGUAGE: Sadly, I couldn’t catch everything, but here is what I caught: F**k (2), F**king (4), WTF, F*cked up, Sh*t (2), C*nt, “grotesque co*ch” (another word for a woman’s genitalia), A**, Bad A**.

PROFANITY: God’s name and Jesus’ name are misused 15 times throughout the film.

ALCOHOL: Characters are seen drinking multiple times throughout the film.

DRUGS: Moderately Heavy to Heavy. Smoking and vaping (multiple times). Prescription drug misuse. A character is seen taking Xanax twice (one time with alcohol). Someone mentions that they were a “junky” and that their spouse was their “fix.” Lowren is seen smoking either cigarettes or weed (I couldn’t tell for sure). Someone is drugged.

WOKENESS: An often raunchy and Woke female empowerment podcast named “Call Her Daddy” is referenced.

OTHER QUESTIONABLE CONTENT: A mother is seen being extremely neglectful of her children (locks them in a room all day and, when the husband returns, she takes them out of the room and makes him believe that they had a wonderful day. She goes into great detail, in her journal, about how much she loathes her children and wishes they didn’t exist. She is even seen in the beginning stages of smothering an infant (but her attempt is halted by her husband’s return) (she even claims no one would know whether the baby died of SIDS or was smothered in their sleep).

Themes

At one point in the film, a character says to Jeremy, as they are killing someone and then later dumping the body, “We did the right thing. We’re good people.”

Now even just reading that sentence above, without context, you must realize that you’re not a good person, or even a slightly decent one, if you are deliberately killing someone and then covering it up. You’re a murderer, a criminal, whatever you’d like to say.

What is goodness though? What does it look like? Sound like? Feel like? A person can do good but not be a Christian. A person can do good things for others and if they don’t have a heart for God or His Son, it’s all for nothing. A person can feed the poor, help orphans, drive people to appointments, work in a soup kitchen, all those “good things” and if their motives aren’t to glorify God or his Son or to show God how much he/she loves Him, it does nothing to save them from God’s Final Judgment.

When we live for Christ, yes we must accomplish good works, but this is accompanied and shown through our faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. It’s not simply enough to do good works, you must love your Lord and your God with your heart and then, only then, is it worth anything.

The Apostle James said it best…

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. —James 2:14-26

And in the Letter to the Hebrews:

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” —Hebrews 11:6

And lastly in Paul’s letter to the Galatians…

“Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” —Galatians 2:16

Closing Thoughts

“Remember, there is no light where we are going…”

These aren’t just the words that I heard Anne Hathaway state in the pre-show welcome or even in the film, author Colleen Hoover (author of Verity) made it very clear, there is no light where the viewer is going, only darkness.

Indeed, only darkness surrounds the book and the film. Without spoiling anything, let’s just say that no one REALLY gets a happy ending. A child dies, a mother kills her child, adults commit adultery and other fornicating atrocities, and really there isn’t any light, not even a glimmer, to be found by the time the film reaches its conclusion.

While yes the film does have some strong performances, these don’t ever outweigh the content, not by a mile. With that said, I don’t recommend “Verity” to any Christian of any age. The Holy Spirit will be appalled and in the end all you’ll be left with is guilt.

• Nudity: Very Heavy
• Sex: Very Heavy
• Vulgar/Crude language: Very Heavy
• Violence: Heavy
• Profane language: Heavy
• Drugs/Alcohol: Moderate
• Wokeism: Mild
• Occult: None

Learn about DISCERNMENT, wisdom in making personal entertainment decisions

Every time you buy a movie ticket or buy or rent a video you are in effect casting a vote telling Hollywood, “I’ll pay for that. That’s what I want.” Read our article

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.