Directed by Olivia Wilde — Screenplay by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones.
When actress Olivia Wilde burst onto the scene behind the camera with her feature directorial debut, Booksmart, it was quite exciting. It felt like the kind of film that could stand the test of time and become a coming-of-age comedy favorite for a certain generation of moviegoers. So, when her second attempt as a director, Don’t Worry Darling, was widely recognized as an underwhelming and somewhat messy sophomore slump, it was quite disappointing. Well, it’s been four years since Don’t Worry Darling, and now Wilde is back with her third film as a director. The actress-turned-director is pulling double duty, as she’s also one of the stars of the four-hander that is The Invite. This is the latest of multiple remakes of Cesc Gay’s Spanish comedy The People Upstairs from 2020. This adaptation was scribed by screenwriting duo Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, and it is a remarkably strong return to form for director Olivia Wilde.
Set in San Francisco, Olivia Wilde’s The Invite follows a married couple — Joe (played by Seth Rogen), a music teacher, and Angela (played by Olivia Wilde) — as they have their eccentric upstairs neighbors — Piña (played by Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (played by Edward Norton) — over for dinner. Joe and Angela’s marriage is on the rocks, so to speak, and as their neighbors stop by, they are in the middle of an argument. Not only are they underprepared for the dinner, but Joe is also adamant that he should confront their dinner guests over the loud noises they make upstairs. As the dinner party progresses, it becomes clear that Piña, a sexologist, and Hawk lead an untraditional life as a couple and that they’re quite interested in introducing the lifestyle to Joe and Angela.
Wilde’s latest film is a chamber piece dramedy with screwball elements. It is an old-fashioned four-hander that is expertly paced and edited and sharply written. Both the editing style and dialogue are snappy and energetic, and it provides plenty of room for all four performers to shine inside of this stage play-esque narrative. It is consistently funny for most of the film, features tense and cringe relationship humor, as well as physical comedy, and actors sharing outstanding comedic rapport. It is the kind of film that manages to be both a laugh-riot in early stages and quite depressing later on without the switch feeling forced or unnatural.
The characters are distinct, and the regrets, mistakes, and pent-up frustrations that make up the relationship drama mostly feel real. It is such a well-designed film that it overcomes the stage play comparison pitfalls. Wilde uses frame composition really well to emphasize isolation or emotional distance between characters. The film also uses cross-cutting expertly to heighten both tension and comedy when characters are separated into groups.
Speaking of these groups, let’s now talk about the four actors that bring the sharp writing to life. Although she is pulling double duty, Olivia Wilde’s performance in front of the camera doesn’t suffer for it. Not only does she have great comedic rapport with her castmates, but she is so good at playing her character as this people-pleasing nervous wreck out of her depth in pulling off this dinner party and managing situations. Rogen is, of course, laugh-out-loud funny with perfectly delivered little interjections and reactions, and he also handles his character’s more dramatic work quite well. He is so well cast because Rogen, as an actor, comes pre-packaged with this likable quality so that you buy into his struggles and enjoy watching him, even when his character is confrontational and agitated. Everything that Cruz is doing looks so effortless, as she manages to be perfectly alluring while building her character into more than just a stock character. Finally, Norton is light-out fantastic as well. He plays his character with such a disarming and calm grin, as he perfectly captures his character’s humorously inquisitive and mysterious nature, while also turning in more serious dramatic work.
Olivia Wilde’s The Invite is a terrific film about modern middle-age marriage malaise. It is wildly funny but also gets to a deeper point that makes it feel like a true film for grown-ups rather than just a film about snickering at certain topics, which it easily could’ve devolved into. It feels like Wilde’s best film, but simply by virtue of it being a remake, I am slightly hesitant to proclaim it as such with full voice, given my lack of familiarity with the original film. Nevertheless, this is a super entertaining film that is expertly written and assembled, and which features four of the best performances of the year thus far.
9 out of 10
– Review written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
