Anne Hathaway's 'Verity' Opens to Mixed Reviews After a Banner Year

Few actors have navigated a single calendar year with the range and volume that Anne Hathaway has managed in 2026 — a stretch that has taken her from Homeric epic to prestige sequel to, now, a psychological thriller adapted from one of contemporary fiction's most divisive bestsellers. That final chapter arrives this weekend in the form of Verity, and if early critical consensus is any indication, the film represents the one soft note in an otherwise extraordinary year.

A Year That Demanded Attention

To appreciate the weight of Verity's reception, it helps to understand the altitude from which it falls. Hathaway's 2026 began with Mother Mary, a project that divided audiences but earned a measure of retrospective appreciation, before she reunited with Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt for The Devil Wears Prada 2 — a long-anticipated return to Runway magazine that critics largely embraced as a deft balance of nostalgia and fresh energy.

The undisputed centerpiece of her year, however, was Christopher Nolan's sweeping historical epic The Odyssey, in which Hathaway portrays Penelope alongside a cast that drew considerable attention even before cameras rolled. Zendaya, Matt Damon, and Anne Hathaway lit up the press launch for the film, which has since grossed more than $1.7 billion worldwide, placing it among the eleven highest-earning theatrical releases of all time. Hathaway is currently regarded as a legitimate contender for a Best Supporting Actress nomination come awards season — a recognition that would mark a notable chapter in a career that has already included an Oscar win for Les Misérables. Her dynamic with co-star Tom Holland also generated significant warmth during the promotional run, adding a human dimension to what was already a closely watched production.

What Critics Are Saying About Verity

Directed by Michael Showalter — who previously helmed Hathaway in Prime Video's The Idea of You — Verity is the latest in a wave of Colleen Hoover adaptations that have made their way to the screen following It Ends with Us, Regretting You, and Reminders of Him. The film also stars Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, and arrives carrying the particular expectations that come with adapting one of Hoover's more psychologically intense novels.

According to Collider, the film has debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with an aggregate score of 43% based on 54 submitted reviews — a figure that, by any reasonable measure, signals a mixed-to-negative critical landing. The fault lines in that response are fairly consistent across notices: Hathaway's central performance draws meaningful praise, while the film itself is faulted for a certain timidity in execution. Collider's own Carly Lane awarded it a 6/10, arguing that Verity hesitates at precisely the moments when it should lean hardest into its campy, erotic, or unsettling instincts. That critique — the sense of a thriller that pulls its punches — is a familiar one in the Hoover adaptation cycle, where source material built on heightened emotion often yields films that feel paradoxically restrained.

Not all voices were skeptical. ScreenRant's Liz Declan positioned Verity as the strongest entry yet in the Hoover cinematic canon, while CBR's Chris La Vigna singled out Hathaway's work as sufficient reason alone to make the trip to the theater.

The Bigger Picture

One underwhelming critical debut does little to diminish what has been, by any analytical standard, an exceptional stretch of work. Hathaway has demonstrated in 2026 that she remains one of the most versatile performers of her generation — capable of anchoring a Nolan blockbuster, commanding red carpets with quiet authority, and headlining genre fare in the same breath. Verity may not be the triumphant curtain call that a year of this magnitude deserved, but it is hardly a career-defining stumble. The more telling story is the one that preceded it — five films, a billion-dollar epic, and an awards conversation that shows no sign of cooling.

Verity is in theaters now.