The Invite (2026) Review
A film that might make you rethink how well you really know the people living next door and possibly your own marriage.
Overview
Joe and Angela’s marriage is on thin ice. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors for a dinner party, the night spirals into unexpected places. Have they reignited the spark or lit the match that burns it all down?
Rating: ★★★★☆ 4.5/5
The Invite feels like a sharp return for Olivia Wilde. Don’t Worry Darling, didn’t fully capture her strengths, but she regains control here, navigating the tumultuous waves of a marriage on the brink of collapse, balancing discomfort with genuinely biting humor.
Joe (Seth Rogen) comes home worn down, collapsing onto the floor of his half-finished apartment, only to learn that his wife Angela (Wilde) has invited their upstairs neighbors over for dinner. It’s an immediately telling setup: the physical array of their home mirrors the emotional state of their relationship. From the start, you feel the imbalance: Joe’s exhaustion vs. Angela’s need to hold things together. The score from Devonté Hynes quietly and sometimes loudly amplifies that tension.
What works most for me is how the film frames conflict as a series of small, needling contradictions. Joe leans into irritation and deflection, while Angela clings to control, trying to curate a version of their life that still feels intact. Wilde emphasizes this visually through mirrors and tight compositions, often isolating characters even when they share the same space. It’s as if the space is a pressure cooker.
When the neighbors, Piña (Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton), finally arrive, they become the catalyst that turns the film from an awkward domestic comedy into a probing drama. Their openness and emotional directness force Joe and Angela to confront the things they’ve been avoiding.The film slowly starts to unpack the film’s double entendre of “the invite.”
I like how the film uses movement through space to reflect emotional distance. Characters drift into separate rooms, forming temporary pairings that expose different sides of themselves. Angela, who feels tightly wound around Joe, opens up more freely with Hawk. Joe, usually guarded, softens up in unexpected ways with Piña. The interactions start to open the space for more investigative work within all characters.
Where the film really lands for me is in how it treats the idea of “starting over.” The turn in the third act is all about confrontation and vulnerability. It forces Joe and Angela to admit that what they’ve built together isn’t working. Rogen’s humor, which carries the film, unveils itself to be more like a shield he’s been hiding behind for comic relief. Through a few explosive outbursts and awkward moments the film strips everything bare.
There’s a vulnerability there that feels earned. The closing scene, which reminds me of a counter to La La Land, reframes the entire journey. Over the course of one night, we have emotionally rekindled the past and created a path forward. The Invite understands that relationships oftentimes erode in small, quiet ways. The hardest thing isn’t fixing what’s broken, but admitting that it is. Incredible casting, and wonderful screenplay that’s worth checking out.
