The Invite is based on the Spanish comedy, The People Upstairs. I’ve yet to see the original, although two other films came to mind while watching The Invite: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. At first, this struck me as an odd combo. The more I compared the two, though, the more parallels I found. Both are about marriages with two couples clashing in unexpected ways. The Invite finds the middle ground between Virginia Woolf’s rising tension and the horny, awkward tension of Bob & Carol. The result is a modern classic that more than deserves to be placed alongside the aforementioned films.
People often say that Seth Rogen can only play one character. If that’s true, then nobody plays Rogen better than Rogen. He blends his signature comedy style with some of his best dramatic work as Joe, a failed musician turned teacher who lives in an apartment with his wife Angela (Olivia Wilde) and their unseen daughter. Joe returns home to learn that the high-strung Angela has invited their noisy neighbors to dinner. By “noisy,” I mean that Joe and Angela can overhear them having sex. Joe plans on bringing this up over dinner, much to the aggravation of Angela, who insists this night go off without a hitch.
Wilde also directed The Invite, which is every bit as hilarious as her debut feature, Booksmart. Despite the limited setting, Wilde brings a real sense of scale to the apartment, which feels like a character that’s about to blow its own lid. It’s a step back in the right direction after her second feature, Don’t Worry Darling, where the behind-the-scenes drama overshadowed the film itself. The Invite almost feels like a commentary on Wilde’s personal life. In addition to being called something of a perfectionist behind the camera, the media dissected Wilde’s high-profile breakup with Jason Sudeikis. That said, the similarities with Angela are likely coincidental, seeing how Wilde didn’t write the script.
The screenwriting credits belong to Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, who briefly dated decades ago. While their relationship turned more professional than romantic, you get the sense that McCormack and Jones have seen each other at their best and worst. They bring a firecracker rapport to Joe and Angela, who you do get the sense loved each other at one point. Now, though, there’s little left other than rage, obligation, and the elephant in the room. That elephant doubles with the arrival of Penélope Cruz’s Pína and Edward Norton’s Hawk, the sexy couple who may be roughly the same age as Angela and Joe. Based on their vibes, though, Pína and Hawk feel more like thirty-year-old newlyweds.
There’s a secret to Pína and Hawks’ healthy sex life, although I won’t spoil that here. Like Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama, the less you know about The Invite going in, the better. All you need to know is that you’re unlikely to see another film this year with more biting dialogue or a better-matched quartet of performances. It’s also a strong contender for the best ending of the year. The final minutes elevate what was already an enormously entertaining film to another level, leaving us to wonder if we should be hopeful or heartbroken. The Invite walks a fine line between both, exploring how marriages work, how they don’t work, and how even an unsuccessful one can still be worthwhile.