By John Corrado
The Invite is the third film directed by actress Olivia Wilde, following her 2019 debut with the teen comedy Booksmart, and her overly ambitious sophomore feature Don’t Worry Darling in 2022.
This film finds her not only rebounding mightily after the notorious critical flop of Don’t Worry Darling (a film that bit off far more than it could chew, though was admittedly somewhat entertaining as high camp), but also delivering her best work yet, not only as a filmmaker but also as an actor.
Wilde stars in this highly entertaining chamber piece as part of a small but mighty four person ensemble that includes Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton. The four actors are all excellent together, working from an incredibly sharp script co-written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones that unfolds almost entirely in one apartment over a single night.
Wilde plays Angela, who is married to Joe (Rogen). The two live together in San Francisco, but the spark has gone out of their marriage. On this night, Joe comes home from work to find that Angela has invited their upstairs neighbours over for a dinner party, having prepared a whole spread of food to impress them.
The neighbours are Hawk (Edward Norton) and Pína (Penélope Cruz), a shall we say “passionate” couple whose loud noises during the night have been driving Joe up a wall and causing friction between him and Angela. He wants to call them out on it. She says that would be inappropriate. He also forgot to buy the wine.
Rogen’s Joe is exhausted from a day at work, and doesn’t want company. Wilde’s Angela is desperate to impress the upstairs neighbours. Norton’s Hawk is a talker who breaks the ice by saying the quiet part out loud, conversing with his wife in Spanish, while Cruz’s Pína is a psychoanalyst by profession who is given plenty to psychoanalyze over the course of the evening.
A lot of this is cringe comedy that draws awkward laughs out of watching a social gathering going uncomfortably badly. And The Invite is frequently laugh out loud funny, but the film also becomes very insightful about relationships. Every interaction and argument is actually about something deeper, something else that is causing friction and coming to a head on this night. There is a “secret” that is more like a new wrinkle that needs to be smoothed out, and complicates the dynamics even further.
This is the sort of setup that could work in any location. The film is actually a remake of the Spanish film The People Upstairs from 2020, with the screenplay having been updated for American audiences with the cultural specificity of San Francisco. Wilde’s impressively controlled direction and the way she uses the layout of the apartment, matched by Adam Newport-Berra’s cinematography, helps the film rise above what could’ve felt like a filmed stage play.
The writing is incredibly smart and perceptive about not only modern relationships, but also human nature in general. Each of the four characters could be seen as a bit of an archetype, but McCormack and Jones scratch beneath the surface of each one to explore layers underneath, constantly testing them against each other.
The main selling point of The Invite is the absolute pleasure of watching four skilled actors handle this material, and it’s a big part of why the film works so well. Wilde, Rogen, Norton and Cruz all have roles that play to their strengths, and they are each given standout moments to shine individually, while also playing off each other exceptionally well.
It all builds to an unexpectedly poignant final beat, one that elevates the film into something actually kind of meaningful. If Wilde’s goal is for this film to be a conversation starter, not just among couples but also among friends, than she has certainly succeeded. A great night out at the movies.
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