The Invite. (2026)
Directed by: Olivia Wilde
Premise: A remake of the Spanish film The People Upstairs. An unhappily married couple (Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogan) hosts their neighbors (Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton) for dinner. Tensions between the couples give way to a surprising offer.
What Works: The Invite. is a remake of a Spanish film which itself was adapted from a stage play. Although the material is inherently stagy—a small cast in a confined space with mostly continuous action—The Invite. has been produced with a cinematic style. Director Olivia Wilde blocks the action, moves the camera, and cuts to closeups in ways that make everything kinetic, draw out the subtext, and guide the viewer through the material. The Invite. is extremely well cast. Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogan are believable as Joe and Angela. They are miserable together; Joe and Angela’s marriage is afflicted with the kind of exasperation and unhappiness that is unique to a couple who have been together for a long time. Joe and Angela spend a lot of the movie arguing and Wilde and Rogan are very cutting. Their fights are pitched with a delicious meanness. Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton play Piña and Hawk, the mysterious and hip neighbor couple. Cruz and Norton are also convincing as a couple and they emanate sexual energy. Joe and Angela are in a romantic logjam and Piña and Hawk are the unstable element that shakes everything loose and forces a confrontation. The conflicts between Joe and Angela are very real and the film deals with that conflict intelligently. The Invite. ultimately hinges upon whether or not Joe and Angela can find a way forward in their relationship and the film ends an appropriately ambiguous note. Despite the heaviness of the subject matter, The Invite. is also very funny.
What Doesn’t: The Invite. is primarily about Joe and Angela’s relationship and so the film is primarily invested in their reactions. Piña and Hawk do not get the same consideration. They come across as urban hippies but their relationship and lifestyle are too perfect. There are moments at the very end of The Invite. that reveal cracks in Piña and Hawk’s marriage but the exposition about their past and the insight into their relationship don’t really change our understanding of their characters. The filmmakers keep them mysterious and sexy which necessarily means keeping up a façade. Piña and Hawk don’t have the reality of Joe and Angela and so their lifestyle and their existence seem artificial. At a critical point, The Invite. shifts from realism to fantasy and in that transition the filmmakers miss an opportunity to do something more real and more complex in the film’s exploration of love and marriage.
Bottom Line: The Invite. is a smart mix of comedy and relationship drama. The characterization of the neighbors limits the film’s penetration into the messy realities of relationships but the filmmakers confront a lot of uncomfortable truth in this film and do so with sharp humor. The Invite. is extremely well made and showcases excellent performances.
Episode: #1108 (July 19, 2026)