You’d never know that Olivia Wilde’s The Invite was set in America in 2026. It could be set any time after, say, 1970. There aren’t any modern features most of us live with now. No DoorDash or Instacart to fix the lack of wine. No social media to stalk people you might want to know more about. This is humanity living the old-fashioned way, before we became slaves to our tiny glowing screens and stopped looking at each other.
I did not expect to like The Invite. I was sure the critics were going overboard, as they often do with women directors to compensate for any weakness they might notice. I also was sure I’d hate the people on the screen. But I was wrong, and I must eat some crow. The Inviteisn’t just good; it’s easily one of the best films of the year.
What helps here is that Wilde did not write the screenplay (Will McCormack and Rashida Jones did), so her focus is on two main voices: how we, the audience, observe these insects in a jar, and how her main character expresses herself on screen. Wilde is, in a way, having a conversation with the character she plays and, in so doing, with herself.
Steven Soderbergh once said that his film Sex, Lies, and Videotape featured characters who each represented a different side of his personality. I could probably say the same thing here, with these four characters in The Invite, what they represent, and how they all slowly reveal themselves throughout the film until we find their mushy, tender centers.
The film stuck with me more than I ever could have imagined—not just Seth Rogen’s absolutely brilliant performance, but the other actors’ too, especially Wilde’s, which might seem overdone at first, but it all comes together by the end. This is a film where the actors do most of the heavy lifting, but it’s also Wilde’s own eye observing them that sets this film apart.
We are always the watchers. We see these characters in mirrors, at odd angles, through doorways, and sometimes through glass. We see them as though we’re outside the apartment, and we can imagine what it might look like to peer into their world. Who would we think we see?
Each of the two couples lives in a way that is deceptive to the outside world. Rogen and Wilde live in an expensive house they did not buy because they could not afford to buy it. They’re always on the outside, never having been the kind of people they so badly wanted to be—a famous rock star, a brilliant interior designer.
At the same time, we peel back the other couple, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, who are also trying to pretend to be people they aren’t. If you did not know them, and you only saw them in fleeting images, or heard their loud group sex through the walls, you’d draw all sorts of conclusions about them. But once you get them up close and personal, you discover darker stories, buried conflicts, and deep pain.
The Invite is an American remake of a Spanish film that was based on a play by the same writer, Cesc Gay. It has the feel of a play, of course, because it takes place all in one room. Wilde did not attempt to take us outside of that room, or even bring in any extra characters.
Penélope Cruz represents Spain in the film, with a nod to jamón, the famous Spanish ham. They laugh about this when Olivia Wilde presents the wrong kind in an attempt to impress her guest. It’s telling and sad that they would laugh about this, but this is a film about hidden conversations.
Wilde says in this interview that she workshopped the film like a play, even spending time rehearsing with the actors. That accounts for why they all feel so comfortable in their characters and in the space. Most of the time, actors do not have that luxury. They’re told to learn their lines and hit their mark. But here, we can see what actors can really do when given enough time and care to build each moment for maximum effect. Throwaway lines linger in the air. Small expressions are caught by Wilde’s camera just in time to notice.
The Spanish film The People Upstairs has a slightly different vibe, at least from the trailer.
I don’t know if it feels as sad or melancholy as The Invite. But telling this story for American audiences would, of course, be different, especially since we are in strange and treacherous waters where sex is concerned. Wilde and Rogen pretend to be down with the sex talk and the potential for swinging or experimentation. They want to be more than they are, but at the same time, what they want, or who they think they know with the couple upstairs, is also built on an illusion.
What we’re left with are four people we come to care about as the story plays out and mistakes are made. We care that they are intact by the end, and they only barely are. What we see in Rogen and Wilde are people who love each other deeply but who are also lonely together, with their kid being the main reason they’re together at all. Who might they have been without the other? Would they have achieved their dreams? Did being in the relationship dampen their hope or desire to reach for the stars?
Seth Rogen is the real surprise here. He gives his best performance ever and could be looking at a Best Actor nomination. Honestly, he could win. All four of them, I expect, will get in, and if these voters have any good sense, The Invite will land in Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Editing as well.
We can put The Invite on the same shelf as Obsession, even if these movies are worlds apart. They are still about how people reach for each other and hope for the best. They are both sad and sweet as they try to find the kind of love they so badly want, but that always seems to elude them.
Wilde’s gifts as a director are evident from the first frame to the last. It’s not easy to make a story set in one place like a play interesting, but she does it by playing with the camera’s eye and using lighting and color to take you through the changing rhythms. The film stays with you long after the credits roll. It tells a story and reveals genuine human emotions we so rarely see in movies now. Olivia Wilde has outdone herself.
