As the same kind of enthusiasm-to-cynicism cycle that followed the Summer Of Love plays out in the internet age, some of the topical filmmaking from that earlier time is too. “Sex positivity” has replaced “free love,” but the emotions are very much the same. Curiosity, jealousy, embarrassment, doubt—the feelings that crawl under the skin of relationships emerge, sometimes ugly and raw, when people are frank about their romantic and sexual needs, especially when they extend beyond tradition. For anyone whose dating life has led them to run up against ethical non-monogamy, where asking about acronyms opens up a philosophical can of worms about the nature of personal relationships, The Invite provides plenty of embarrassing, familiar relationship comedy. But it’s director-star Olivia Wilde’s tight, warm control of her ensemble that keeps the awkwardly horny dinner party moving forward through its clunkier courses.
Like a mix between ’60s films Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Invite is an inter- and intra-couple sparring match. The hosts—self-loathing ex-musician Joe (Seth Rogen) and uptight stay-at-home mom Angela (Wilde)—immediately bicker about everything, not least of which is welcoming their upstairs neighbors—therapist Pína (Penélope Cruz) and retired firefighter Hawk (Edward Norton)—over for dinner and drinks. For one thing, they mostly know the guests from the rambunctious noises they make during sex, which have been keeping them up at night. For another, the few in-person interactions they have shared have been annoying, at least to Joe, who has a decided allergy to all things woo-woo.
These two were built in a lab (or a playwright’s head) to embody this. Hawk (with his name and his smugness) and Pína (with her sexpot enlightenment) are immediately annoying, The Five People You Meet At Burning Man type douches. They’re the kind of jerks who claim to embrace conflict. New Age bullshit flows from them like water. But their “I know better than you” confidence lures in their fractured hosts—even if Joe is far more resistant than the willingly manic Angela. Maybe it’s because they’re clearly getting laid more than the unhappy couple welcoming them into their apartment.
This prickly, semi-sophisticated dramedy of manners is an explicit course-correction from Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, which also probably mandated this film’s small-scale approach. The Invite almost entirely takes place on a single set, between just the four members of the ensemble. Production mirrored this arrangement, as it was shot in sequence, play-like, after a stint of workshopping. Wilde uses the oddly laid-out space well, and familiarly, often blocking her cast for maximum awkwardness. It’s all warmly shot on 35mm, with the visual signifiers of film flickering at the edges, obviously gesturing towards another era as much as the narrative’s influences.
Accordingly, the dinner goes sideways and things inevitably start swinging in a swinging direction—after plenty of cynical sniping from Joe, flustered embarrassment from Angela, and cool-headed flow-going from their guests. Will McCormack and Rashida Jones (who’ve worked together on things like Celeste And Jesse Forever and Toy Story 4) adapt the Spanish film The People Upstairs with sharpness that’s both pleased with itself and unsure when enough is enough. The crosstalk between the couples often devolves into Apatowian shouting, which further devolves into earnest soul-baring—all of which is drawn-out and mistrustful of its mature audience, which in turn undermines confident performances deploying hilarious facial expressions and enjoyably off-putting sleaze. When it turns into a therapy session, at first in broad strokes before shifting even more towards the literal, the ensuing schmaltz neutralizes any lingering acidic charm.
It’s a shame, because Wilde coaxes some excellent performances from her cast (and gives a good one herself) as they gravitate towards their foils in the other couple. Rogen, who has proven himself more than capable of solid dramatic acting in things like The Fabelmans, accesses impressive levels of lived-in pain between punchlines, while Norton is a perfectly hateable softboi. But Cruz is the best of the bunch, seductive and silly and snide when needed, peeling back the surface persona The Invite is so happy to exploit. The interactions between the ensemble are familiar, even when they’re unexpected—though The Invite keeps a couple choice pivots to itself, it’s not hard to see where everything’s going (or at least to hear it from the repetitive script).
Yet, even if the serving is slopped onto the plate, this is still smart adult fare reckoning with timeless relationship problems using language and concepts frank and fresh enough to feel relevant—all without straining so hard that it overextends itself trying to seem hip. Wrangled well by Wilde, this is a comic bounceback far closer to the promise put forth by Booksmart.
Director: Olivia Wilde
Writer: Will McCormack, Rashida Jones
Starring: Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton
Release Date: June 26, 2026
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