Parents' Guide to Verity

This glossy erotic thriller wastes its talented cast, proving to be yet another underwhelming Hoover adaptation. Yes, the bestselling author's stories frequently involve tragedy, toxic relationships, and characters navigating grief, but Verity manages to make virtually every adult character a series of red flags. It's particularly difficult to empathize with Lowen, whose fascination with Verity quickly turns into obsession and Single White Female-level jealousy. But Jeremy might be the worst of the trio. He's initially presented as a perfect husband and devoted father, yet he's remarkably quick to have sex with a near stranger while his incapacitated wife is under the same roof. And while there's often joy in watching deliciously bad movies, this one isn't campy enough to merit future cult-classic status.

Hathaway at least seems to be having fun playing the complicated, potentially dangerous Verity, immersing herself in the character's uncertainty and seductive manipulation. But while Johnson and Hartnett are talented performers, Nick Antosca's screenplay doesn't give them enough to make Lowen and Jeremy's relationship feel romantic—or even convincing. Several moments that are clearly intended to be sexy or shocking will likely result in unintentional viewer laughter as a way to cope with the cringe. For those who care, the movie is faithful to the book's central ambiguity, as well as to necessary specifics like the bloody early accident and ridiculous ones like Lowen's fixation on the bite marks on Verity's headboard. But in the end it's likely that even if moviegoers are kept guessing, they won't really be invested.