VERITY

(15) 114mins

★★★☆☆

HARDLY a year goes by without another film adaptation of a Colleen Hoover book.

The best-selling author, already enjoying huge success with this year’s Reminders Of Him, last year’s Regretting You and 2024’s It Ends With Us, has pivoted sharply from her signature romances with this dark thriller.

Dakota Johnson as Lowen Ashleigh in a scene from the film Verity, submerged in a milky blue tub within a rocky enclosure.
Dakota Johnson as writer Lowen in Verity Credit: Alamy
Film still of Anne Hathaway as Verity Crawford and Josh Hartnett as Jeremy Crawford in Verity.
Anne Hathaway and Josh Hartnett as husband and wife Credit: PA

It follows superstar author Verity Crawford (), who we meet when TV journalist interviews her about her hugely successful career.

Verity has fans the world over who love her book series, written from the point of view of the psychotic lead character.

Dressed like a 1950s screen siren, Verity is constantly shown in bright-red outfits — just like those from the TV show Mad Men — even though the film is set in the present day.

And her private life is shrouded in mystery.

Fast forward a year, and we meet fellow author Lowen (), whose first book has not had much success, but has earned her an intriguing meeting with the publishers.

She has a shocking experience with Jeremy (), who she realises is Verity’s husband.

He says Verity had a secret car accident, meaning she is paralysed and has no speech. Her publishers want Lowen to keep writing the book series, so she signs an NDA and moves to a secluded house in the snow-covered mountains.

There, she finds a house brimming with horrifying secrets that would not be out of place in one of Verity’s own books.

Like many films of its type, the suspense of horror-on-the-horizon is the best part of Verity.

There is plenty of push and pull as to who the actual psychopath is — and whether the fictional written word is to be taken as fact.

Hartnett puts in a cracking performance as the suspiciously devoted husband and father, and Hathaway is decent as the sexually confident Verity. But the stunning, immaculately dressed feels miscast here as the supposedly broke and down-on-her-luck author.

Her performance is lacklustre, as though she is doing the whole thing in slow motion.

There are also a few glaring continuity issues with hairstyles and glasses that I was shocked to see slip past the edit.

But this sometimes scary story of sex, lies and manipulation is still a decent romp.

DIGGER

(15) 128mins

★★☆☆☆

An elderly man with wild white hair and a green shirt holds up a rosary and raises his hands in supplication among a group of distressed people.
Behind the prosthetic make-up is an almost unrecognisable Tom Cruise Credit: Alamy

THIS self-congratulatory dark directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu follows ageing, paunchy Texan tycoon Digger Rockwell, who has mountains of money but no love.

And behind the prosthetic is an almost unrecognisable .

His half-blind, incontinent cat Maggie is his only connection, and Digger spends his mornings screaming on Zoom at scientists who warn him to stop drilling for oil in Greenland.

He ignores them – a decision that triggers a methane release, shearing off a huge ice shelf and having catastrophic consequences for the entire world.

This means he must have several more screaming, swearing meetings with the US President (John Goodman) and Ganesh (Riz Ahmed), a geeky, frustrated government scientist. Digger also likes to brandish his prized possession – the old shovel his grandaddy used a century before, digging for black gold.

There is a crucial secret twist that certainly makes this film more interesting for a few minutes.

But it seems very pleased with itself and does not change the pace enough – and the film never digs itself out of a frustrating hole.

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GIRLS LIKE GIRLS

(15) 95mins

★★★★☆

Maya Da Costa as Coley and Myra Molloy as Sonya in a film still from Girls Like Girls.
Hayley Kiyoko makes her directorial debut with this sweet, sunny coming-of-age film Credit: PA

HAYLEY KIYOKO’s directorial debut is a sweet, sunny coming-of-age film.

It follows Coley (Maya da Costa), who moves to rural Oregon after her mum’s death. She has to move in with estranged dad Curtis (Zach Braff) and spends her days the streets and listening to an iPod (it’s set in 2006).

Spotted in a cafe by beautiful dancer Sonya (Myra Molloy), Coley is then adopted by the magnetic ringleader who inists she joins her friendship group.

But there’s more to the relationship, with Coley clearly having sexual feelings for Sonya – and the pair quickly grow close.

Sonya is keen to continue portraying herself as the pretty girl with a boyfriend, crushing Coley’s heart.

There are some lovely scenes with Coley, who is trying to navigate through the waves of shame for her sexuality and grief.

Director Kiyoko wrote the best-selling novel of the same name, and her song Girls Like Girls features in the movie. She definitely made this film for a young adult audience.

Some scenes feel like a music video or reel – but one you want to watch all the way through.