Olivia Wilde’s latest feature film, “The Invite”, welcomes you into the messy apartment and even messier lives of Joe and Angela. The film follows the couple, who have been together for many years, as they invite their upstairs neighbors to dinner.
The film wraps a simple premise into a film with wonderful filmmaking, beautiful performances from the entire quartet that make up the small cast and a script that is as smart with its set-ups and snappy dialogue as it is touching, with deeply human themes of angst and compassion.
This is Wilde’s third directorial effort, and from a craft perspective, “The Invite” is easily her best work. Her collaboration with cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra is beyond impressive, and the performances she gets out of her three co-stars, while delivering a marvelous effort through her own part in the film, are well worth praise.
The camera is a living, breathing character in its own right. The way the film utilizes wide and close-up shots to frame these increasingly uncomfortable conversations, both literally and figuratively, is magnificent. The focus of the camera is constantly shifting and changing the foreground, usually to show off the film’s true strength: the cast.
Olivia Wilde completely embodies the role of Angela for the little time we spend with her. It truly feels like the 107 or so minutes that we spend with her are a drop in the puddle of her life. Her facial expressions are very emotive, and every time she was the subject of a close-up, or the moments when the camera’s focus shifted to a reaction of hers was a treat. She completely embodies an angsty desperation to be liked and desired which is not at all unique to middle-aged women in unhappy marriages. Wilde’s ability to convey all of this while juggling duties as the film’s director is possibly the most impressive part of “The Invite”.
Seth Rogen turns in a career-best performance as Joe, Angela’s husband. Although the film is very funny and Rogen’s comedic nature shines through, this is possibly his most serious role, and it’s one he knocks out of the park. He portrays vulnerability not only physically as a middle-aged man with a bad back, but also emotionally through the portrayal of Joe’s insecurities, dissatisfactions and frustrations, whether they be of a material or sexual nature, in a very touching and realistic way.
Edward Norton has been one of the most consistently solid character actors of the 2020s, with great performances in films such as “Glass Onion”, “A Complete Unknown” and “Asteroid City”; his work here as Hawk is perhaps the best of his recent work. He does a very good job of portraying Hawk’s vulnerability. Instead of wallowing in that vulnerability, he is molded by it into being a more well-adjusted person, which makes him a perfect foil to Joe from both a characterization standpoint and a performance standpoint.
Hawk’s wife Pína is Penelope Cruz’s best performance since she was nominated for an Oscar in Pedro Almadovar’s “Parallel Mothers”. Early into her screentime, we learn that she is a sex therapist, and her expertise in the field of relationships and psychoanalysis makes her such a treat to watch as she unravels the mess of a relationship that she is being exposed to. Late in the film, she gives a very poignant monologue about the dangers of toxicity in relationships that left me completely floored. Not only was the writing spectacular, but so was Cruz’s line delivery.
These performances don’t just serve the incredibly confident directing from Olivia Wilde, but they also perfectly fit the brilliant screenplay penned by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, adapted from Cesc Gay’s film “The People Upstairs (Sentimental)”. The script balances an amazing sense of humor with the palpable sense of dread and existentialism that you feel in Joe and Angela’s relationship.
The sense of humor is present throughout, and while Rogen is the only member of the cast who audiences might traditionally associate with comedy, the entire cast gets a moment to deliver a laugh. The absurdity of a lot of these conversations and the reactive facial expressions from whoever isn’t talking say just as much as the film’s very funny dialogue.
This sense of humor doesn’t undercut the wonderful foundation for the dichotomy between these two couples that the script sets up. Joe and Angela have been together for a long time, and their years of turmoil and frustration feel incredibly real. The importance of Rogen and Wilde’s performances in selling this relationship can’t be understated, but neither can the writing. Their dialogue together, as well as with their counterparts from upstairs, underpins the great chemistry on display from this cast all around.
Speaking of their counterparts, Pína and Hawk’s relationship and the youth of it serve as the perfect opposite to Joe and Angela, and the dichotic nature of it all is apparent from the moment these two couples meet. Just as much as the mileage is felt with Joe and Angela, the lack thereof is felt with their neighbors from upstairs. As soon as these couples meet, the film conveys how much more laid-back and honest Pína and Hawk are, not just with their would-be friends, but with each other. The film does a wonderful job of emphasizing the contrast in compassion present in these two relationships.
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The importance of compassion within a relationship is a theme the film almost beats you over the head with, but it’s a theme that is entirely universal and very powerful in its ability to apply to anyone, not just middle-aged married couples and the “cool neighbors” they wish to impress. The film’s conveyance of this theme could have very easily been completely divorced from the greater human condition, but it isn’t, and that’s another notch in the belt of this truly special film.
After Olivia Wilde’s last film, “Don’t Worry Darling,” and all the bad press it received, there was concern that the promise she showed in her debut film, “Booksmart,” wasn’t going to be properly followed up, but with “The Invite,” she proves the third time really is the charm as this is her best film yet. Her directing elevates an already brilliant script, and the talent she displays behind the camera only rivals the talent Wilde and her co-stars flaunt in front of the camera. “The Invite” is beyond exceptional, and at the end of the year it will belong in the “best of 2026” conversation.
Marley Herndon is a beat reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @Dailylobo
