Can one dinner party change four lives forever? Olivia Wilde’s The Invite answers that question warmly, witfully and truthfully. Based on Cesc Gay’s excellent Spanish film Sentimental, the comedy has turned an ordinary night into an examination of love, marriage and the complicated emotions couples often leave unsaid.
The Invite has only four main characters and one main location, so it is an intimate stage play brought to life on screen. The film has hit the funny points with the right sort of writing and the right sort of performances and Wilde’s hands-on direction that make it funny but also asks the hard questions of commitment, desire and long-term relationships.
Story
Joe (Seth Rogen) and his wife Angela (Olivia Wilde) invite their upstairs neighbours, Pina (Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton), over for what is expected to be a casual evening of wine and conversation.
But what seems to be an easy gathering is quickly turned on its head.
Angela hopes to impress her charismatic neighbours, Joe would rather have a quiet night at home. Hawk and Pina arrive with their own ideas about relationships and intimacy that are beginning to challenge everything Joe and Angela think about their marriage.
All the more so when drinks flow and inhibitions fade, hidden frustrations, long-buried desires and uncomfortable truths come out on the night, and the night becomes an emotional collision of relationships as every relationship is tested.
What Works
The screenplay by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones is the film’s best strength. The way the dialogue is funny and intelligent and emotionally revealing without being too dramatic is its greatest strength.
Olivia Wilde mixes humour with vulnerability in an effective way so that the film never feels preachy, even if marriage, emotional distance and intimacy are subjects of concern.
The narrative is constantly in a comedy and a heartwarming drama, giving every character an unexpected layer.
What appears as a film about sexual experimentation transforms into something else at first, of course: a thoughtful meditation on communication, loneliness and the need to remain in love over time.
Technical Aspects
The Invite never gets visually repetitive, even though it is virtually all inside one apartment.
Adam Newport-Berra’s cinematography makes the best use of framing and movement to subtly depict changing power dynamics between the couples.
The production design emphasises the contrast between Joe and Angela’s predictable domestic life and Hawk and Pina’s bright personalities.
Devonté Hynes goes on with the emotional rhythms and adds a subtle, yet effective score which plays so nicely between playfulness and sadness.
Performances
Olivia Wilde is both in front and behind the camera. As Angela she is conveying the insecurities, frustrations and emotional exhaustion of a woman in doubt about the future of her marriage.
Seth Rogen gives one of his most restrained performances in recent years. Instead of his trademark jokey delivery style he portrays Joe as a man who feels vulnerable and can just let the emotion and his emotions just flow through him.
Edward Norton is charismatic and Penélope Cruz brings warmth, confidence and mystery to Pina. The duo, when working together, is energizing in every scene and constantly pushes the married couple out of their comfort zone.
The chemistry among all four actors is exceptional, making every conversation feel authentic and unpredictable.
Final Verdict
The Invite is far more than a comedy about an awkward dinner party.
It is witty, emotionally smart and shockingly heartfelt in the sense that we must be in touch with the world and we have to be in touch. Olivia Wilde has turned a dialogue-heavy concept into a laugh-out-loud comedy with depth and emotional depth and memorable performances.
If you like to read relationship dramas that are written with very good characters, the best acting and conversation as the main factors, then The Invite is worth watching.
