The Invite plus Short Takes on some other cinematic topics
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, but better options are on the horizon. (Note: Anything in bold blue below [or near purple] is a link to something in the above title or the review.)
My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)
However, if you’d like to know more about rationale of my ratings visit this explanatory site.
The Invite (Olivia Wilde) rated R 107 min.
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
WHAT HAPPENS: Joe (Seth Rogen) teaches music at a small conservatory in San Francisco in a life filled with many frustrations: he used to be in a small combo that didn’t succeed professionally so he doesn’t even touch his piano anymore; he travels home up a steep hill on a fold-up bike (that doesn’t fold up easily) so he’s exhausted when he arrives; the passion seems to have left his life with wife Angela (Olivia Wilde), a former art student now a stay-at-home spouse who pours her aesthetic visions into decorating their apartment with objects such as a rug Joe sees as expensive, unnecessary (he also resents having to take off his shoes when he comes inside), but to make things worse she’s invited the upstairs neighbors to dinner that night with him not getting her text to pick up some wine; Joe further dislikes this couple because their loud sex keeps him awake at night, but Angela insists he not bring it up. They—Piña (Penélope Cruz), a psychiatrist/sexologist, and Hawk (Edward Norton), a retired firefighter—arrive, offer small talk even as Joe makes insulting remarks which, surprisingly, they appreciate because of his honesty even as dinner’s not very successful because Piña has extensive food allergies which Angela forgot to inquire about. (Oddly enough, much of this trauma leads into humorous dialogue, which why this film's called a "comedy.")
As the night goes on (Joe's upset Hawk can see via parallel windows nude Angela leaving the shower, though she’s a bit turned on by it) Piña and Hawk apologize for the noise which comes from sex parties, not just their personal actions. Further, the neighbors reveal they’ve come to invite Joe and Angela to join their parties, but Piña, concerned about the couple’s constant squabbling, suggests they just swap partners right now, an agreed-upon decision. ⇒Angela turns shy with Hawk, though, even as Joe tries dancing with Piña but falls, hurting his back which results in him spewing out a lot of insults to his guests. In response to an attack on his unlikely name, Hawk reveals (in a long, impactful monologue [which Norton wrote]) how he was despondent when his former wife died so he made radical changes in his life, yet he then gets a new attack from Piña about many things including his poor attempts at speaking Spanish to her. Piña also tells Angela and Joe their relationship has run its course with them sadly agreeing to separate; yet, after the neighbors leave Joe begins to play his piano with Angela joining him, her head on his shoulder.⇐
SO WHAT? I’ve been fairly lucky in these past few months in finding unexpected pleasures in streaming while Nina and I carefully choose when to chance COVID exposure in a theater (still waiting for the IMAX crowds to ease up for The Odyssey [Christopher Nolan]), I’ve also been patiently waiting for a few current releases to make their way to streaming, with The Invite at the top of my list, so I was overjoyed last weekend to find this marvelously-reviewed film could finally find a home in my Roku device. Others have already commented on what The Invite shares with long-ago-culture-challenging cinema such as the open-marriage possibilities/conflicts in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Paul Mazursky, 1969) and those vicious-interpersonal-verbal-battles in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols, 1966), so I’ll just refer you to these Wikipedia summaries if you need to understand (or refresh yourself) on the references to these filmic classics; what works for me about The Invite—with its clever use of that title to refer to both Angela’s invitation to the neighbors for dinner and the offer made by Hawk and Piña to Joe and Angela to join in with them in sexual “deviance”—is that it doesn’t back off as easily as Bob … from the “illicit” sex swap (although we’re not clear how far Angela would have gone with Hawk had she not heard Joe fall badly in another room), plus (most importantly for me) the lashing out, mostly by Joe, isn’t nearly as emotionally-horrid as what transpires in … Virginia Woolf? (such dialogue confrontations I’m not opposed to in the earlier film; it’s just that it works so devastatingly-well there I don’t wish to be bombarded again).
Given that The Invite runs in real time (once we get past the opening credits with some SF shots to remind us there is a city out there beyond what we encounter within Angela and Joe’s apartment and the establishment of Joe’s marginal interest with his students as he leaves when they're rehearsing) in a confined space with most of the action coming from a lot of sharply-spoken dialogue (with lots of closeups) what is needed for this narrative to work is a carefully-constructed script delivered by highly-professional actors, both elements firmly on display here as Wilde balances directing duties with performance (after being encouraged into the role by her 3 castmates) and screenwriters Will McCormack and Rashida Jones provide an effective adaptation from the 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs (Cesc Gay)—OK, all I can say is the new script works well, but I know nothing about the earlier film, called Sentimental in Spanish (though it does have 100% acceptance in RT reviews).
BOTTOM LINE FINAL COMMENTS: The Invite opened in domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters on June 26, 2026 (oddly enough, it came out a day earlier in Ukraine if its theaters weren’t bombed shut by Russia), has made $25 million at the box-office ($46.2 million worldwide), now seems to best be found via streaming where you can rent it for $19.99 from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. This is definitely one the CCAL can easily promote with the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews at 97% (highest of anything both they and I have reviewed of 2026 releases) and the Metacritic average score way up there for them at 82% (also the highest of the mutual reviews I’ve shared with this site regarding 2026 filmic product). Clearly, it’s the best I’ve seen so far this year as it’s the only film I’ve rated above the 4-stars level, so I’m enthusiastic about encouraging you to see it. Someone who joins me in that is Owen Gleiberman of Variety (MC 100) who says: “When you go into a movie knowing that it’s about two couples who get together for a dinner party, there are certain expectations about what’s going to happen that are just about wired into our moviegoing DNA. [… This is one] that lives up to every one of those expectations. Yet it does so in a way that’s so original, so brimming with surprise, so fresh and up-to-the-minute in its perceptions of how relationships work (or don’t), that you watch it in a state of rapt immersion and delight. […] All four of the actors are amazing. […] ‘The Invite’ is marvelously entertaining, but part of the reason for that is that I think a lot of people are going to see themselves mirrored in this movie, which for all its sharp-tongued bravura is humane enough to play a truth game that rings true.” A quite true insight.
However, I always try to offer you a dissenting opinion in case such a response might be more in tune with your tastes, even though I had a hard time finding such regarding The Invite; further, the negative reviews I did locate all came from folks I’m not familiar with so I just arbitrarily chose Danielle Solzman of Movie Reviews (RT 2½ of 5): “I truthfully don’t think that it was a film that was made for me. I cannot tell you just how many times I found myself sitting there uncomfortably with what was transpiring on screen. […] You may feel differently when it comes to watching The Invite. I did find myself laughing at times, but if I’m being honest, I can’t remember how often—or whether it was all that much. There are the comedies that I look forward to rewatching, and then there are the one-and-done comedies. […] Ultimately, The Invite is an ambitious attempt at a comedy that pushes its characters into increasingly uncomfortable territory. While some audiences may connect with its approach, the result is a comedy that struggles to leave a lasting impression beyond its willingness to test boundaries.” (I'd say it's not fully intended as comedic.) I have an easy time agreeing with this film’s supporters, finding little connection with the few naysayers, but wasn’t so quick in locating a proper Musical Metaphor to finish off this posting so I finally settled on The Beatles’ "Within You Without You" (George Harrison’s India-inspired tune on 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) because, at their best, the 4 people in this film “were talking about the love we all could share, when we find it / To try our best to hold it there, with our love,” even though much energy that night was spent on “We were talking about the love that’s gone so cold / And the people, who gain the world and lose their soul / They don’t know, they can’t see, are you one of them?” I couldn’t be more emphatic in trying to direct you to The Invite where I hope you’ll find inspirational-reason to make the best effort you can in preserving the relationship you might have or, like me 39 years ago, finding one you can successfully invest in for the long run.
SHORT TAKES
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