REVIEW:
Boy was this one dopey. And that’s being kind. Underwhelming would be another, even kinder way to put it. The story here is about a ghost writer who comes and stays at the home of the writer who she is hired to copy. That’s because that writer, Verity, had a terrible car accident and is now paralyzed. She can’t even speak, let alone move. She’s in a wheelchair, being taken care of by a full-time nurse as she lives in a secluded mansion with her husband and child. But this isn’t a story about a paralyzed person being taken care of. It’s not a drama. It’s a mystery. Or so they would have you think. The trailers make this out to be a thriller, and it certainly feels that way in tone, but none of the reveals are very clever or interesting at all. Instead, they are just all pretty dumb.
Dakota Johnson plays the protagonist, Lowen Ashleigh, and she’s about as bland as this actress has ever been. Many people have a problem with Johnson, claiming she’s flat in tone and personality. For me, it’s more about understanding what she represents. Her movies generally tend to be guilty pleasure flicks. There’s both the good (Bad Times at the El Royale,) and the bad, (Madame Web.) And I can find the merit in them all. But not with this one. Not with Verity. With this one, it’s like Johnson has come to terms with how expressionless she is, and isn’t even trying. There are actually lines in the movie that address this head on, with her saying something like, “I have resting bored face,” at one point, joking about how expressionless she is.
But let’s not blame the actress here for how poorly written this thing is. I know it is based on a best-selling novel, but C’mon. How? How can this story have possibly captivated so many people. I was hoping this would be something along the lines of Gone Girl or the Housemaid… Not even close. For one, there are just so, so many things that don’t make any sense. Starting at the very beginning, Lowen is walking down a New York City street when a biker gets his by a car right in front of her and she finds herself covered in blood. Cool opening scene to be sure, although how that much blood could have splattered all over her I have no idea. But then a man standing next to her, Jeremy Crawford (Josh Hartnett,) helps her out, takes her into a coffee shop, and even steps into the bathroom with her while she is changing her shirt. He’s a stranger. In what world would he be invited into the bathroom with her?
Things continue to be just as dumb as this. When she gets the job of ghost writing for this author, Verity, but has to go and live with her and her family, Lowen’s manager tries to talk her out of going. Why? Wouldn’t he be the one pushing her to take the job the most? Talk about not understanding a character’s motivation. And then she gets there and is shocked to find Verity in a wheel chair. Would Lowen really have gone up there and taken the job without even talking to Verity on the phone first? You would think they would want to have a conversation to see if there was any chemistry or understanding of each others ideas. But nothing as rational as that fits into this movie.
And so Lowen goes up there and starts reading Verity’s journals. She’s not actually working on the book, like she’s supposed to be doing, but instead is just pouring over this woman’s journals day after day. And she’s learning this woman’s secrets. At the same time, she starts having an affair with Jeremy. Oh, and she thinks she sees Verity walking around the house. Only Verity is shown in still images, like blink and she’s there, blink again and she’s not. Never seen moving. Which makes you think that maybe Verity is just imagining it all.
When the secret comes out, and there is one to be certain, it’s dumber than anything else in the movie up to that point. Let’s put it this way. what Verity wrote in her journal was something no mother who lost her child would ever do. And they try to justify it, talking about Verity’s writing style and exercises and things like that, but C’mon. This has got to be one of the worst twists since some of the most awful M Night Shamalan movies. And there you have it. Watching it on a first viewing is fine, because you keep trying to figure it out, thinking something exciting or clever is going to happen. When you realize you are wrong, the feeling is total disappointment. What a mess.