If you’ve already seen The Odyssey, this weekend is the perfect time to check out The Invite, a comedy from A24 and directed by Olivia Wilde. It made a splash out of the Sundance Film Festival, and it is building buzz as a true awards season contender. An adult comedy that is not only funny, it’s one that taps into the universal struggles of long-term relationships. The latter description might not make it sound like a crowd pleaser, but it truly is. The Invite is meant to be seen in a crowded theater as the audience shares in the universal laughter, awkwardness, and poignancy of what is truly the must-see film of the summer.
The Invite is an English-language remake of the 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs, from Wilde (director) and screenwritersWill McCormack and Rashida Jones. In the film, Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Wilde) are in a marital rut that sometimes couples experience after being in a long-term relationship. In the midst of their discourse, Angela decides to host a dinner party for their upstairs neighbors, Hawk (Edward Norton) and Pína (Penélope Cruz). The upstairs neighbors also happen to be a sexually liberated couple whom Joe and Angela can hear having loud sex regularly, and Joe intends to tell them about it. What ultimately takes place is a hilarious yet awkward confrontation that forces Joe and Angela to confront their issues with communication, desires, and resentment.
The Cast Is Excellent From Top To Bottom
The ensemble cast of The Invite is top-tier, and each of the four leads gives impeccably good performances that honestly put them all in contention for award attention. Their chemistry drives the story and tension along this one of marital self-discovery for Joe and Angela, and as the film goes along, the audience sees that even the liberated Hawk and Pína have their own problems to come to terms with.
Perhaps the most surprising of the foursome is Rogen, who gives the best performance of his career. He plays Joe, a middle-aged former musician who seems to have settled into his career as a community college professor and his own marriage. Rogen brings his signature comedic prowess and rattles off the film’s snappy dialogue like a pro, which comes as no surprise. However, it’s the emotional depth he brings to the performance, particularly later in the film, that resonates. Also, his chemistry with Wilde, even though it is mostly showcased as antagonistic, is palpable throughout.
Showing up and showing out is Wilde, pulling double duty as actress and director as the neurotic and anxious Angela. This is the best work she has done as an actress, as she effortlessly balances comedic beats with the quiet turmoil of someone who knows deep down that her marriage is at a standstill. It would be easy to label Angela as unlikable because she comes off as someone who needs to be in control and wants everything to be just right, but it’s all to mask the insecurities she’s facing because of the marital tension she’s experiencing with Joe.
Norton and Cruz prove to be a dynamic duo as Hawk and Pína. Much like Rogen and Wilde, they breathe life into their characters that strip away their personas as actors, allowing the audience to only see the authenticity of the people they are portraying. Norton, known mostly for playing heavier, dramatic roles, seems to be having a blast tapping into the hilarity of Hawk’s eccentric personality. He’s overeager and at times off-putting, but his free-spirited attitude is perfectly juxtaposed to Joe’s more closed-off nature. Even though Norton’s role is mostly played for laughs, he does have a pretty emotional monologue later in the film that Norton reportedly wrote himself to get a natural reaction from his co-stars. It’s a pivotal moment that ends up serving his scene partners well in the aftermath.
Cruz has the role that serves as the voice for the audience. Pína is an extrovert and a relationship therapist/sexologist who has no qualms about politely calling out what’s right in front of her. Cruz brings a magnetic charm to her role but also a sense of humanity as she’s able to identify with each character in the film. She has natural chemistry with all involved, and she truly is an unpredictable, sensual force of nature that anchors some of the film’s more uncomfortable moments.
The Invite’s Screenplay Is One Of The Best Of The Year
Kudos to McCormack and Jones for crafting one of the best screenplays of the year that ensures they’ll be in the conversation for their work in adapting the original material. The script is riddled with whip-smart dialogue as it explores complicated relationship dynamics with humor but also raw human emotion.
It can be difficult to walk a tonal tightrope because the change in tone can be jarring if it’s not handled right. There is a naturalness in which The Invite bounces from very funny moments to situations that require more depth. It essentially plays out how a real night like this might play out if there was tension boiling at the surface. McCormack and Jones’ ability to find the right line between humor and drama is a big reason why the film works.
The Invite also features some of the best and most naturalistic dialogue of any film this year. It’s all fast-paced, and the actors bring their A-game as they turn the dialogue into an epic tennis match. It’s not always easy to have characters speaking over each other because it can become chaotic, but because they’re so skilled and the dialogue is so potent, the audience never misses a single word. It plays into the clumsiness of the night, and even though this is a film where characters are struggling to communicate, the script ensures every intentional word spoken is crystal clear.
Even though The Invite functions primarily as a comedy, the screenplay effectively captures, through precision-like pacing, a pretty deep insight into adult relationships. The conversations about becoming complacent, jealousy, sex, and the harsh realities of the issues that can befall long-term couples are tackled with respect and honesty. Perhaps one of the best aspects of the screenplay is that it’s not completely cynical and jaded about these relationships. There is a hopefulness during key moments that suggests you can overcome most anything if you’re just honest with each other.
Olivia Wilde’s Direction Is Superb
Wilde is no stranger to direction, having helmed Booksmart and Don’t Worry Darling, the former of which was better received than the latter, but The Invite suggests that Wilde’s skills behind the camera are evolving and she’s capable of being a director that we should continue to watch.
Working with a single location, Wilde has probably directed one of the best staged and blocked films of the year. It would be easy to direct The Invite with a filmed play aesthetic given that it’s a limited space with a minimal number of characters, but there is nothing static about her approach. Characters are grouped together intentionally to maximize the tension and humor during certain scenes, while she also utilizes windows, mirrors, and doorways to visualize the claustrophobia and awkwardness of a dinner party that goes to hell and back.
The Invite is shot primarily with a single camera, and this goes a long way to giving each character a perspective that draws the audience in. The camera, at times, feels like a fly on the wall for the audience to feel completely immersed in the escalating chaos of the evening. Wilde is ultimately a part of a well-choreographed dance between herself as a director and the film’s screenplay as she brings each cringe-worthy, humorous, and poignant moment to life with a sense of urgency and energy that makes The Invite pop.
There also appears to be a true collaborative environment that was created between Wilde and the rest of the cast. She reportedly encouraged improv on set and wanted all of them to find real moments of humor and depth that felt honest for the characters. It’s a trust that’s cultivated when a director and actors are perfectiyl in sync.
The Invite Is Meant To Be Seen With A Crowd
Comedies like this, especially made for adult audiences, don’t come around much anymore, especially theatrically, and The Invite is meant to be seen with a crowd. There is a relatability within the story that makes the humor universal, leading to some laugh-out-loud moments that are energized by the communal experience of seeing it in a packed theater.
It’s a film that thrives on the shared reactions that result from the surprises as the movie unfolds. Much like Obsession reminded us this summer that horror and its familiar themes are best shared with a crowd, The Invite is an excellent reminder of the power of comedy and how it can be an immersive experience as you revel in the shock, unexpected turns, frank dialogue, and boundary-pushing commentary that make it designed for the theatrical experience. The Invite is not only easily the funniest film of the year, but it’s also one of the best films of the year, period.
The Invite is now playing in theaters nationwide
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