Oct 2, 2026 · 26 min · 12 segments
Welcome to our inagural episode of ***CInema with Cheese*** where we're diving into Michael Showalter's adaptation of Colleen Hoover's novel Verity. The film stars Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett, and…
Miranda MoffatHostUm, I, uh, not to dive too much into this, um, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I was going to.
Um, you and I were making comparisons afterwards to Paul Feig's recent dives into thrillers with A Simple Favor and The Housemaid, um, and I do not like either of those movies.
I think A Simple Favor is a really good script destroyed by the direction [laughs].
This feels like a film that knows what it is and is very confident about what it's trying to be.
Um, Dakota Johnson and Anne Hathaway were both producing and ac- executive producing it sh- like, tells me basically that this was essentially a passion project for them, um, or at least, like, an, a foray for them into the producing world in a project that they were actually intrinsically interested in, and you can feel that.
Um, I think the thing that I appreciated the most about this movie was the, the aesthetic quality and the vibe it creates.
But it has a very, like, very hollow, very, like, um, very structural aesthetic to it.
Like, it, it uses the architecture of the homes and, like, the city and the landscapes to set the scene, which I appreciated.
I, I always almost describe it as a stage play aesthetic 'cause we're kind of trapped in one house for, I want to say 75% of the story.
Um, and with all the kind words I have to say about that, and there are several specifically about the performances from Josh Hartnett and Anne Hathaway, um, I just feel like this is a director trying to, m- similar to, like, David Fincher with Gone Girl, trying to take what is essentially a trashy airport book- A- as the book, the film itself describes, its [laughs] its content and elevate it a bit.
Um, very similar to what David Fincher did with Gillian Flynn's, uh, Gone Girl.
The Gone Girl comparisons come out especially because we have Anne Hathaway narrating 90% of her screen time, kind of like a drunk History.
I expected that Anne Hathaway would be more of the, you know, singular lead just based off of the promotional materials, but it's definitely led, I would say, by Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, and Anne Hathaway is more of like i- in the voiceover role, and you get most of her story, like, through [clears throat] like, what do you call those? Um, flashback scenes.
Um, I, uh, not to dive too much into this, um, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I was going to.
Um, you and I were making comparisons afterwards to Paul Feig's recent dives into thrillers with A Simple Favor and The Housemaid, um, and I do not like either of those movies.
I think A Simple Favor is a really good script destroyed by the direction [laughs].
This feels like a film that knows what it is and is very confident about what it's trying to be.
Um, Dakota Johnson and Anne Hathaway were both producing and ac- executive producing it sh- like, tells me basically that this was essentially a passion project for them, um, or at least, like, an, a foray for them into the producing world in a project that they were actually intrinsically interested in, and you can feel that.
Um, I think the thing that I appreciated the most about this movie was the, the aesthetic quality and the vibe it creates.
But it has a very, like, very hollow, very, like, um, very structural aesthetic to it.
Like, it, it uses the architecture of the homes and, like, the city and the landscapes to set the scene, which I appreciated.
I, I always almost describe it as a stage play aesthetic 'cause we're kind of trapped in one house for, I want to say 75% of the story.
Um, and with all the kind words I have to say about that, and there are several specifically about the performances from Josh Hartnett and Anne Hathaway, um, I just feel like this is a director trying to, m- similar to, like, David Fincher with Gone Girl, trying to take what is essentially a trashy airport book- A- as the book, the film itself describes, its [laughs] its content and elevate it a bit.
Um, very similar to what David Fincher did with Gillian Flynn's, uh, Gone Girl.
The Gone Girl comparisons come out especially because we have Anne Hathaway narrating 90% of her screen time, kind of like a drunk History.
I expected that Anne Hathaway would be more of the, you know, singular lead just based off of the promotional materials, but it's definitely led, I would say, by Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, and Anne Hathaway is more of like i- in the voiceover role, and you get most of her story, like, through [clears throat] like, what do you call those? Um, flashback scenes.
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