R | 1h 47m | Comedy, Drama | 2026
Director-actress Olivia Wilde strikes comedic gold with “The Invite.” Wilde, the rare bombshell with true comedic talent, has also become a director to keep an eye on.
Like Woody Allen before her (back before scandal capsized his established but still growing legend status), she made a keenly observed, 1970s-type adult-centric comedy—a much different animal than the 21st century’s R-rated, raunchy comedies, where “adult” refers to the language only.
“The Invite” opens with this Oscar Wilde quote: “One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry.” Oscar Wilde is the reason the former Olivia Cockburn is now stage-named Olivia Wilde.
Oscar Wilde’s posthumous namesake’s third feature film is a poignant study of the marital dissolution between frustrated former artist Angela (Wilde) and beleaguered, failed musician Joe (Seth Rogen).
It’s quite similar to the recent “Couples Weekend” but feels significantly more intricate and layered, due to Olivia Wilde’s stellar directing and the A-list cast.
Stress Pain
Joe and Angela live in San Francisco. Former band musician Joe arrives home and immediately lies on the hallway floor due to incapacitating back pain. His pain comes from riding his hated folding bike to and from his hated job as a high school music teacher.
The back pain intensifies when he discovers Angela prepping for a date of wine and fancy snacks with their glamorous upstairs neighbors Hawk (Edward Norton) and Piña (Penélope Cruz) that she “forgot” to tell him about.
Hawk and Piña have moved in relatively recently, and their impending arrival kicks off a new round of squabbling between Joe and Angela. It’s a vociferous level of chronic bickering they’re barely able to squelch, even when the other couple steps into the living room.
The film’s first quarter is a mostly awkward getting-to-know-each-other process—couple number one continues sniping at each other, while couple number two bemusedly offer their two cents in a much calmer manner.
What eventually bubbles to the surface is the problem the first couple have had with the second couple all along: Hawk and Pina’s ridiculously loud sex that ruins Joe and Angela’s sleep on a nightly basis. This confrontation flips the whole film on its ear with an unexpected invitation.
‘The Invite’ Versus ‘Couples Weekend’
Written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack as a fast-paced, four-hander chamber piece, 99 percent of the film is shot in and around Joe and Angela’s fabulous apartment (which Joe feels guilty about inheriting from his parents). The story moves at a good clip, not via action but through non-stop dialogue that often has the characters hilariously stepping all over each other’s lines.
“Couples Weekend” was about two couples spending a weekend together, where one couple catches their respective spouses in flagrante delicto—which then leads to intense, highly cathartic, four-way couple therapy.
“The Invite” is about one couple inviting another couple for dinner, where the other couple invites them to have group sex—which then leads to intense, highly cathartic, four-way couple therapy.
Wilde approaches the potentially salacious topic in such a way that it mostly feels like what it ultimately functions as: a catalyst for marital healing. That’s a pretty neat trick. Like any adult comedy, the film balances the laughs with dramatic depth.
Wilde, with a cast at her disposal that’s the acting equivalent of a Stradivarius violin, shifts the story back and forth between the comedic-dramatic modalities seamlessly. Joe and Angela fighting is mostly played for laughs but the sadness of their relationship seeps through effectively.
Seth Rogen has successfully transitioned from his 2020s, stock-in-trade weed-addled goofball, to edgier fare that displays his dramatic acting chops. One could argue he’s coming full-circle to the edgy high school character from “Freaks and Geeks” that put him on the map.
In a loaded, powerhouse roster, where each cast member inhabits their respective roles magnificently, and where they play off each other as if they had been working together for years—Rogen’s the one who successfully nails every moment. His Joe is such a recognizable portrait of middle-aged unhappiness: a man who doesn’t want to talk about his failures, open up, make new friends, or do anything other than smoke weed in his office.
“The Invite,” having elements of a bawdy sex comedy, where the awkwardness is in your face, sets the stage for expert slapstick. Ultimately, though, while largely bittersweet, like the yin-yang symbol, there’s a very palpable seed of hope at the heart of it. Rich, hilarious, and keenly observed, it’s this year’s sleeper hit.
‘The Invite’
Director: Olivia Wilde
Starring: Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton
Running Time: 1 hour, 47 minutes
Release Date: July 10, 2026
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
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