Do you know your partner’s deepest desires? That’s the R-rated question at the center of Olivia Wilde’s sharp third feature (in theaters nationwide starting July 10), which made a splash at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Wilde portrays the anxious Angela, who, much to the chagrin of husband Joe (Seth Rogen), has invited neighbors Hawk and Pina (a hilarious Ed Norton and Penélope Cruz) over for dinner.
Angela and Joe seem to have it all: a gorgeous San Francisco apartment, a great kid and a loving relationship. But from the film’s hectic opening moments, it’s clear these two can no longer communicate — a revelation that becomes harder to ignore when they see just how in sync their sexy new friends are.
Penelope Cruz, Seth Rogen, and Olivia Wilde. Courtesy of A24
Based on the 2020 Spanish film Sentimental and adapted by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, The Invite is the kind of squirmy, knowing-glances-at-your-partner Comedy With a Point that Hollywood has moved away from in recent years. A shame. All four actors hit it out of the park as the fraught dinner party devolves in unexpected, revealing directions. It often feels more like a play, with nearly all 107 minutes homed in on the quartet in a room talking (and yelling and crying and revealing long-buried inner truths).
The film grapples with middle-age malaise and stale-but-not-bad marriages, and smartly interrogates whether relationships can come back from the brink. Angela and Joe’s brink? An NSFW proposal from Hawk and Pina. The tension cranks along with the laughs, and viewers should RSVP yes for their seat at this movie’s table, one of the most enjoyable and surprising of the year.
