ReviewThe Invite movie review: Olivia Wilde’s adult-oriented sex comedy doesn’t pull its punches
Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, Ed Norton and Wilde herself deliver excellent performances, interpreting the racy script with unabashed gusto
4/5 stars
Channelling the work of Woody Allen, Wilde delivers a breezy film making light of its characters’ failings, with a dry wit that provides many genuine laughs. Although comedic, The Invite makes its points better than more serious marital dramas of recent years, including the hollow HBO remake of Ingmar Bergman’s classic Scenes from a Marriage television series.
The Invite is not a wholly original work, as it is based on the 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs, written and directed by Cesc Gay. That feature was itself an adaptation of Gay’s own stage play, and this talky American version is similarly theatrical – the script could have worked just as well in a live setting.
Wilde plays Angela, a homemaker living a suburban life in San Francisco with her husband Joe (Seth Rogen), a disillusioned music teacher. He is furious with their new upstairs neighbours, Pina (Penelope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton), whose noisy sexual trysts wake him nightly at 4am.
Angela is more intrigued than irritated and, despite her husband’s protestations, invites them to dinner. The dinnertime chat gradually turns to sex, and Angela and Joe are pulled into a situation that challenges their views of sexuality – and of their marriage.