Olivia Wilde's The Invite Proves Her Directing Prowess

Olivia Wilde began her directing career with the sensational, Booksmart. I loved that coming-of-age comedy and thought Wilde was a director to watch. Then came Don't Worry Darling with its disastrous press tour and subpar film almost derailing Wilde's promising career. The Invite sees her working in a much quieter profile– instead of opening with lots of pomp and circumstance, The Invite earned raves out of Sundance. The conversation has been entirely on the merits of The Invite and for good reason– it's a great feature and proves Wilde has the directing goods.

As a remake of 2020's Spanish film, The People Upstairs, The Invite had solid bones to work with, but its elevated with a script from Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, and its quartet of performers. Our main couple, Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Wilde), are in a rut. They've been married for a number of years, but its obviously that outside of their love for their daughter, they are checked out of their marriage. After arriving home from work and reeling from chronic back pain, Joe wants nothing more than to smoke a joint and relax. What he quickly acknowledges is that Angela has other plans– she's given an invite to their upstairs neighbors to join them for dinner. They argue, but then Joe sees an opportunity in this meeting. He can finally ask his neighbors about the loud sex sounds they hear through the ceiling each night.

The neighbors Hawk (Edward Norton) and Pina (Penelope Cruz) have an air about them that's hard for Joe and Angela to pinpoint. They seem so self-assured and open with each other. Although Joe originally showed hesitation to hanging out with the neighbors he finds a connection with Pina over weed-smoking and music. Angela also discovers that Hawk is really interested in interior design, especially rugs. They each have their own curious secrets that the script reveals piecemeal throughout.

A lot of the success of The Invite comes from McCormack and Jones. Even though this dinner party is exhausting for the participants (and the audience), the dialog is so sharp. I found myself recounting numerous lines from the movie afterwards. The Invite circles around to a reveal at one point, but it doesn't live or die based on your knowledge of that. It has plenty of hilarious moments, but its also a poignant conversational piece about how confidence, attraction, and commitment are always a challenge in a marriage.

It's a rare occurrence in the the movie marketplace these days to get a mid-budget comedy. Most of these films are regulated to the streaming graveyard, just hoping to catch the attention of the masses while they scroll on Netflix. This is like a hidden treasure from an era long passed. Here's The Invite with a fantastic cast of Norton, Cruz, Roger, and Wilde tackling a topic for adults in a winning feature. We don't get many films like this anymore, you should absolutely take Wilde and company up on The Invite. [B+]