Tom Cruise and Dakota Johnson are hitting the big screen this week, but are either of their films worth the hype?
Richard Roeper is sharing his thoughts on “Digger” and “Verity,” along with a stellar film starring Mahershala Ali.
“Digger” (in theaters)
Tom Cruise has undergone some remarkable physical transformations over the years, from “Born on the 4th of July” to “Vanilla Sky” and of course “Tropic Thunder,” and he undertakes his most radical makeover yet in “Digger” to play a balding, portly, megalomaniacal trillionaire tycoon named Digger Rockwell.
Kudos to the world’s most enduring movie star for taking such a big swing. Cruise gamely tackles some immensely challenging dialogue, but overall, it’s a flashy, thinly drawn, superficial and abrasive performance in an obnoxious, unpleasant, smug and coarse film.
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu has presided over some of the boldest and most original films of the 21st century, from “Amores perros” to “21 Grams” to “Birdman” to “The Revenant”—but “Digger” is a gigantic misfire. It’s a satire that isn’t particularly insightful, a drama that shouts to the rafters, and a social commentary that clubs us over the head with its obviousness.
About halfway through this film, I was wondering if I was seeing one of the biggest disasters of the year. By the conclusion, I was sure of it.
Cruise’s Digger is an odious and eccentric oil magnate who has a creepy fixation on his dying cat and treats everyone around him like disposable garbage. (When they start talking, it’s his cue to cut them off and talk over them. It’s just as irritating to the viewer as it must be to those in Digger’s shadow.) When Digger’s worldwide drilling operations cause a cataclysmic chain of events that could result in millions of deaths and the wholesale destruction of much of the planet, he springs into action—to divert blame, create global chaos, and lecture the populace about their dependence on oil.
This is a film that tries to travel in “Dr. Strangelove” territory, but it’s not even in the same league as “Don’t Look Up.” Yes, there is some admittedly awesome production design, but the amazing supporting cast that includes John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Sophie Wilde and Jesse Plemons are stuck playing caricatures. They all throw themselves into their respective roles, but that doesn’t help. I love John Goodman, but there are times when I cringed for him.
This is the kind of film that will have some critics praising it as brilliant and cutting edge satire, one of the best movies of the year—while others will point out the emperor is devoid of clothes, and it’s a bunch of noise and holler signifying nothing, and it’s a film practically daring us to walk out.
Count me in the latter camp.
1.5 stars
“Verity” (in theaters) —
In the lurid psychological thriller “Verity,” Dakota Johnson’s character says she has “resting bored face.”
Me, watching “Verity”: Same.
This ponderous, ludicrous, utterly illogical mystery commits the cinematic crime of placing three talented, great-looking actors in a jigsaw puzzle story that concludes with the pieces scattered all over the place. It’s the kind of film that has you wondering how Johnson, Anne Hathaway and Josh Hartnett could read the script and think: Oh yeah, this will be great!
It’s not even so-bad-it’s-good, high camp, though the first half is moderately intriguing. It’s off the rails terrible, even if you go into it with a generous attitude and a willingness to forgive gigantic plot holes. Nearly every time a major character in this movie has to make a decision, they’ll come up with an idea so incredibly dumb that you’ll want to throw your popcorn at the screen. (Please don’t do that. The staffers at movie theaters have to clean up after us, and let’s face it, we make a mess.)
Johnson’s Lowen Ashleigh is a talented but undiscovered writer who has a deadened voice, is constantly vaping and has the personality of an unsharpened pencil. Anne Hathaway’s Verity Crawford (why do they have names like they’re in “Bridgerton”?) is a fabulously successful author who is so famous we see clips of her being interviewed by Gayle King, Alex “Call Her Daddy” Cooper and Sean “Hot Ones” Evans. When Verity is left mute and paralyzed by a car accident, Lowen is hired to ghostwrite the final few novels of Verity’s “The Noble Virtues” series.
Lowen moves into the Vermont mansion where Verity is stashed upstairs like an unused Peloton bike, leaving her to bond with Verity’s hunky husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett), and their young son Crew (Brady Wagner), and do you name your son Crew because you hope he’ll be rowing for Yale?
All right then. Lowen discovers some deep, dark secrets involving Verity (most of Hathaway’s scenes are in flashbacks), and we’re plunged into a putatively sexy melodrama where we know SOMEBODY did SOMETHING terrible—but who’s the real villain? In the final 15 minutes, “Verity” shatters into a million pieces.
When it’s all over, if you ask even one of the half-dozen questions that will pop into your mind about various characters and their motivations, the whole thing falls apart.
Anne Hathaway has had an amazing year at the movies, from “Mother Mary” to “The Devil Wears Prada 2” to “The Odyssey” to “The End of Oak Street.” Hey, four out of five is pretty dang impressive.
1.5 stars
“Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” (in theaters)
The title of Bassam Tariq’s masterful genre mashup is borrowed from the Islamic teaching that says a mother is honored three times before the father. Honor your mother, your mother, your mother—and only then your father. That’s unquestionably profound, but it is the cultural and familial foundation for one of the wildest and exhilarating and blazingly original films of 2026. This is faith-based filmmaking filtered through a samurai blender.
Mahershala Ali has two Oscars for Best Supporting Actor for his indelible work in “Moonlight” and “Green Book,” but he delivers raw and magnificent leading man presence in a career-defining portrayal as Latif, a grieving widower trying to maintain the impossible balance between taking care of his children and (literally) executing his job as a gun for hire. With the supply of his recently deceased wife’s milk dwindling and his infant daughter refusing to take formula, Latif takes to the streets of Houston in a desperate quest to secure nourishment for his child. He’s also dealing with a rebellious daughter (a great performance by the young actress Adia) who rightfully questions her father’s moral authority given that his mysterious work is putting the entire family at peril.
With cinematographer Katelin Arizmendi delivering fever-dream visuals of a scorched-earth Texas that echo the chaos in Latif’s world and in his consciousness, “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” mixes delicate and quiet heartbeats of prayer and reflection with Tarantino-esque violence. Latif is on a collision course with a demented, gun-crazy religious cult led by “Pastor Hwan” (an all-in performance by John Cho), and that path is strewn with bloodied bodies on both sides.
“Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” will hold you in its grip throughout. It is a memorable portrayal of faith and family and loss and maybe, perhaps, against all odds, some measure of redemption. In a movie universe filled with high-profile Best Picture contenders such as “The Odyssey,” “Project Hail Mary” and “Dune: Part 3,” here’s hoping the Academy voters find room for this film on the list of nominees.
4.0 stars
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