‘The Invite’ (2026)

Spanning the course of one evening, ‘The Invite’ follows stay-at-home mom Angela (Olivia Wilde) and her music teacher husband Joe (Seth Rogen). Tracking the night as Angela invites their upstairs neighbours Piña (Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton) for dinner, the foursome find themselves in increasingly revelatory situations, spiralling out of control.

Painting a very immediate and clear picture of Angela and Joe, the opening sequence tracks Angela as she frantically busies herself around the house, laying down a recently purchased carpet and Joe spacing out at band practice as he drifts deeper in thought with his students looking on at him.

Reverberating throughout the feature, the initial portrayal that Wilde and Rogen deliver establishes two very unhappy individuals, each stewing in their own personal disappointments. Wilde delivers a neurotic and restless Angela whose one-track mind constantly centres on her recent apartment renovation, agonising over each little detail and caring so much about how the project is perceived.

Unlike Angela, Rogen’s Joe seems to want nothing more than to be left alone, caring little about the home renovation. Withdrawn and for the most part unable to carry on a conversation without detracting by making a joke, Joe is further frustrated after a long day at work when Angela informs him that their mysterious upstairs neighbours are due for a visit that night.

Painful and funny to watch, Wilde and Rogen’s commitment to portraying a couple who make each other miserable plays out beautifully. The erratic energy with which they bounce off of one another adds to the excitement and imminent arrival of their guests, culminating in an awkward space for the guests to arrive in.

Addressing the tension immediately, Piña and Hawk arrive at the height of the verbal altercation which they choose to mention and ask if Angela and Joe would prefer another night for the dinner. Standing behind the camera as well as in front of it, Wilde directs the film with an unrelenting sense of tension. With the guests addressing awkward missteps, one blunder leads to another and underlying tensions soon bubble to the surface.

One particular complaint Joe has is the loud noises coming from Piña and Hawk’s apartment, as the two can be heard having sex. Wanting to bring it up, with Wilde’s Angela terrified of it being mentioned, the film eventually leads the group to open up and be honest with each other, with the discussion leading to entirely unexpected destinations.

Beyond intolerable at points, the awkwardness created by Angela and Joe is so uncomfortable, hardly any viewers could be expected to remain still in their seats and not cringe from one ungraceful embarrassment to the next. What eventually comes out is the fact that Piña and Hawk participate in sex parties and they wish to extend the invitation to Angela and Joe.

With an unexpected shift in tone however, the film plays out as an uncomfortable comedy for the most part until Angela and Joe have to take a step back and address their marital issues. As guided by Piña, a psychotherapist and sexologist, the two pause to acknowledge that years of resentment have created a distance between them, reducing their relationship to a meagre partnership of two people who hardly know one another any more.

Stunningly introspective, the film manages to pump the brakes on the torturous comedy and leads to a stark and unanticipated dramatic conclusion. Forcing Angela and Joe to take stock and understand how they got where they are, Wilde stupefies with a much more quiet and pensive culmination to an otherwise turbulent feature.

Accompanied splendiferously by Cruz and Norton, characters Piña and Hawk play out as the diametric opposites of their downstairs neighbours. Suave and affable, Cruz and Norton play two people who know what they want and are comfortable with who they are. Starkly contrasted with the immeasurably frustrated Angela and Joe, they almost seem like the perfect couple. With one instance of Piña blowing up at Hawk as the evening had already presented a few hurdles, the film shows us that the neighbours upstairs are not without their faults, allowing Angela to appreciate that not everyone and everything can be perfect.

A whirlwind of an evening that seems to pass by in a flash as it jumps from one social faux pas to another, ‘The Invite’ is amazingly unbearable in the best way imaginable. Led by an excellent cast, great direction and a fantastic script, ‘The Invite’ has to be loved for the insanely tense environment it creates and savoured for the awkward fallout that runs through the course of the feature.

Score: 4/4