Verity is based on Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel and stars Dakota Johnson as Lowen, a struggling writer who is hired to complete the work of bestselling author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway) after an accident leaves Verity unable to write. While staying with Verity’s husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett), Lowen discovers a disturbing manuscript that raises questions about Verity, her family and what really happened to them.

Unfortunately, the story is painfully slow, and the direction it is going becomes apparent after about 30 minutes. From that point, rather than being intrigued by what might happen, the audience is left waiting for the characters to catch up with what has already become obvious.

That is likely to be even more apparent to anyone familiar with Colleen Hoover’s previous work, or any of her other novels that have been adapted for film. There is a very recognisable formula here, and Verity doesn't do enough to disguise where it is heading.

Anne Hathaway is given a particularly thankless role. Despite being one of the film's biggest stars, there is remarkably little for her to do for much of the running time. She brings some welcome theatricality to the character, but the script doesn't give her enough material to really make Verity as compelling as she should be.

Dakota Johnson has the opposite problem. The script asks a huge amount of her, requiring Lowen to carry much of the film emotionally as she becomes increasingly frightened, suspicious and conflicted. Unfortunately, Johnson doesn't bring enough emotional depth to make the character completely convincing.

There are certainly some good ingredients here — a creepy house, a disturbing manuscript, family secrets and plenty of opportunities for psychological tension — but the film never quite makes them work. It feels caught between a serious psychological thriller and a knowingly trashy melodrama without fully committing to either.

The biggest problem is simply that the destination becomes obvious far too early. A thriller can survive a predictable ending, but it needs to make the journey there compelling. Verity never quite manages that, leaving what could have been an entertaining psychological thriller feeling instead like a very long wait for a conclusion that was already apparent.