Courtney Howard // Film Critic
THE INVITE
Rated R, 1 hour and 47 minutes
Directed by: Olivia Wilde
Starring: Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Edward Norton, Penélope Cruz
With THE INVITE, director/ star Olivia Wilde channels her inner Mike Nichols (WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?) and nebbish Woody Allen (HUSBANDS AND WIVES), capturing neurotic couples’ reckonings and perfectly re-appropriating the latter influence’s traditional Windsor typeface. Based on the Spanish film SENTIMENTAL and adapted by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, the uncomfortably hilarious, deeply insightful chamber piece revolves around a bickering couple’s intimate dinner party with their friendly upstairs neighbors that quickly goes pear-shaped once truths are aired. Motored by its comedy-coated sincerity, it’s the funniest, most provocative date night film in a decade. Simply put, it’s absolutely phenomenal.
Angela (Wilde) and Joe (Seth Rogen) are a disgruntled married couple. Their recent apartment remodel and 12-year-old daughter seem to be the only things keeping them together, as their unspoken grievances are causing a cavernous divide. They bicker constantly, yet share a darkly funny screwball comedy-esque repartee. Artistically-minded Angela quit her job to focus on taking care of the home and has become kooky when it comes to redecorating their comfy habitat, obsessing over similar paint swatches for the bedroom. Failed musician-turned-high-school-music-teacher Joe is stuck in a job he hates. He’s plagued by lower back problems that have only been exacerbated by the un-foldable foldable bike he’s forced to ride around San Francisco. As their evening begins, what should be a typical night at home turns out to be much different.
Much to Joe’s chagrin, Angela invited their upstairs neighbors Hawk (Edward Norton) and Piña (Penélope Cruz) over for a casual get-together replete with tons of charcuterie, a soufflé and booze. The pair’s prep gets off to a bad start when Joe doesn’t pick up a bottle of wine on his way home and their main course burns. A huge argument ensues just as their potential new friends arrive, having overheard part of the squabble. The situation grows more awkward once they open up the lone bottle of wine they have in the house (a vintage too fancy for this affair) and Piña confesses her dietary issues preclude her from eating anything but the olives in Angela’s carefully curated spread. Niceties turn to awkward conversation before ultimately reaching the real reasons why each couple gathered together – and it wasn’t solely for the chit-chat.
Every middle-aged couple – perhaps of a certain age and tax bracket like the one in the film – dreads showing up to a veritable stranger’s shindig and being ambushed with an uncomfortable surprise. For couples in the 70s and 80s, a universal fear was that their gatherings were a ruse for Amway pitches. Subjecting unwitting guests to timeshare presentations was also the rage decades ago. Still, nothing compares to the wild proposal Piña and Hawk have in mind for Angela and Joe (one I won’t reveal lest I spoil the surprise).
The filmmakers and on-camera quartet brilliantly handle the tonal fluctuations, balancing the comedic awkwardness, tension and shock powering the narrative drive. Wilde’s camera blocking, placing certain characters in power positions within the frame, helps directly reflect their psyches. The scene where Angela angrily snaps at her husband, pointing at her souffle in the oven as she’s squatting in a perfect yoga form, is relatable and funny.
The couples’ shifting character dynamics build upon one another, as one couple does or says something odd and the other doubles down on it. Joe’s request – one Angela is embarrassed for her husband to even posit to Piña and Hawk – seems mild in contrast to their new besties’ uninhibited request for Joe and Angela. There are moments where the women’s sensibilities align while, in an intriguing juxtaposition, the men’s sensibilities clash. Dominant and submissive behaviors also fluctuate within their conversations and circumstances.
Composer Devonté Hynes provides the soundtrack to marital discord. His score is integral, acting as another notable presence to heighten and super-charge the atmospheric push-pull of relationship power plays. Angela and Joe’s themes are symphonically waltz-like when they’re getting along, then suddenly shift into staccato strings when their conversations turn prickly. Production designer Jade Healy’s designs make the homey environment feel both cozy and claustrophobic. They provide a great setting for the conversational fireworks. Cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra’s cool-toned lighting is subtly nuanced and warmly poetic.
The almost play-like material gives way to pristine performances. Rogen’s standoffish, agitated aura makes him appear like a man completely saturated by anxiety, bitterness and toxic wistful nostalgia. At times, it’s difficult to empathize with him as he takes things for granted – like the home he inherited from his parents in a financially unfeasible city. Wilde is winning. She not only brings an effervescent vitality to the role, she understands it on a DNA level with her psychosis and physicality. Her body language is effective, whether collapsing in on herself in an insecure stance or firmly asserting her forcefulness.
Norton has the tough job of being the over-the-hill debonair, charming and kinda smug guy – and he makes a meal out of it. He’s tasked with about half of the emotionally heavy lift, and is best in the moments that require vulnerability to bubble to the surface. He lives his life in extremes therapeutically. Cruz is impeccable. She’s seductive with shark-like focus, funny and radiant. Her best scene involves her pointedly reading Joe the riot act on a woman’s life cycle.
The feature ends on an ambiguous note. Whether Joe and Angela survived that evening’s tortured affair is left for the audience to decide. A hopeful person might interpret the piano duet that bookends the film as an uplifting one. Perhaps it intones that this couple can indeed get back to the way they were at the start. But for the masochists in the audience, as one would kinda have to be to sign up for a movie involving married people arguing, it might read as more of a melancholy literal end note. Whatever the case, make sure to RSVP “Yes” to this film with your significant other.
Grade: 4.5 out of 5
THE INVITE will be in select theaters on June 26. It will open nationwide on July 10.
