“The Invite” Review

To deliver an enthralling dialogue-heavy entertainment set entirely in a single location, over a single evening, is an immense challenge. To do that while portraying a devastating relationship drama wrapped in the uproarious joy of a sex comedy? Even more so.

Yet Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite” succeeds on both fronts with aplomb as a remarkably sensitive, mature examination of the million little cuts that risk tearing apart a relationship without skimping on the absurd comedy of an off-the-rails dinner party relatable to anybody who has ever been in an uncomfortable social situation with no easy escape.

Seth Rogen’s Joe is a depressed music teacher who, upon arriving home from a rough work day, learns that his wife, Angela (Olivia Wilde) has invited their upstairs neighbors over for a last minute dinner party. Faced with an unexpected social engagement, Joe lashes out at Angela and the two engage in an argument that may be about this specific dinner party, but is clearly just the most recent skirmish in a never-ending fight that started days, or years, before and will continue long after the party ends.

Hawk and Pína’s (Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz) arrival interrupts the argument, as Joe and Angela shift into host mode, trying their best to put on a positive front while learning more about their inquisitive neighbors. As the evening goes on, alliances shift in surprising and funny ways, and Joe and Angela find themselves learning more than they ever expected about their neighbors and each other.

Based on the Spanish playwright Cesc Gay’s “The People Upstairs”, “The Invite” is miraculous in its ability to deliver raucous laughs while also deconstructing a marriage on the verge of breaking down. Joe and Angela’s arguments may be about something specific, but the patterns and behaviors are routine they are both sick of, leaving them both more interested in winning the fight than saving their relationship. Picking on each other’s insecurities with casual cruelty, their dynamic is hurtful to watch both for the audience and their dinner guests. Do they even like each other? Do they like themselves?

Lest these heavier observations on the struggles of a relationship in disrepair risk scaring you off, rest assured that “The Invite” is also, constantly, hilarious. From its opening montage, with Joe’s biking commute from work intercut with Angela’s preparation for the coming dinner party, Olivia Wilde establishes an energetic momentum that doesn’t let up until the very ending. It was a delightful surprise just how well the movie keeps building its nervous energy, its awkwardness, its unexpected twists and turns.

Every character feels fully realized, elevated by astounding performances, with no one person made into an easy punching bag for cheap laughter. Each performer gets time to shine in both comedy and drama and, even as the personal revelations become more absurd, the quirks and imperfections more obvious, the actors never fail to bring forth a relatable humanity to each and every character.

Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz are fantastic as the visiting neighbors witnessing a relationship come undone, but it is Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde who deserve the majority of the applause, perfectly capturing the casual ways longterm partners strike out at one another, but also portraying the small intimacies that can’t help but pop up between two people who know each other perhaps too well. Their relationship feels lived-in, an authentic couple who just can’t find the motivation to try anymore.

Every character in the film grapples with what makes a successful relationship, a successful life, and they all circle a willingness to desire and be desired, sexually of course, but in all ways big and small. In their line readings, their facial tics, their physical movements, the entire cast portrays in their own way the dramatic and comedic mating rituals of insecure people looking for some happiness.

This unlikely amalgamation of vulgar comedy, perceptive relationship drama, and heartbreaking conflict is a miracle in that it works at all, succeeding with thoughtful themes and non-stop entertainment such that I could not look away, even at its most uncomfortable.

The Invite
Rated R for sexual material, language throughout, and drug use.
Running Time: 1 hour and 47 minutes

Director Olivia Wilde
Writers Will McCormack, Rashida Jones
Stars Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton
Rating R
Running Time 107 Minutes
Genres Comedy, Drama, Romance