By George & Josh Bate
With her first directorial effort Booksmart, Olivia Wilde breathed surprising new life into the high school sex comedy genre, crafting a sharp and heartfelt coming-of-age tale. Her sophomore effort, Don’t Worry Darling, while admittedly entertaining, heavy-handedly rehashed familiar themes and was marred by an unintentionally comical performance from Harry Styles. Wilde corrects for his misstep massively with The Invite, an enthralling and uproarious examination of romance, sex, and resentment that all couples, especially those who notice strain or monotony in their relationship, should see.
A remake of Cesc Gay’s The People Upstairs, The Invite follows Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Olivia Wilde), a married couple navigating a rough patch in their relationship. Much to Joe’s dismay, Angela invites their neighbors Pina (Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton) on a rare night in which their daughter is out of the house. Over the course of an increasingly fraught evening, cracks in Angela and Joe’s relationship are exposed and Pina and Hawk make a daring proposition.
If there was a uniting fault to lodge against Wilde’s previous two directorial efforts, it’s that the films tonally missed the mark. Characters in Booksmart, for instance, acted so unlike people in real life that their heightened behavior and dialogue undercut the dramatic material. With her third film as a director, Wilde overcomes this issue by landing on a tone that captures relationship dynamics in an authentic manner, while possessing a vibrant sense of humor that does not detract from the groundedness of the story.
The Invite unfolds almost entirely within the confines of a single apartment and, as such, operates very much like a play. With a story purposefully devoid of action or spectacle, the film relies exclusively on the dialogue of Will McCormack and Rashida Jones’ screenplay and the performances of its four actors. This puts quite a sizable responsibility on the shoulders of Rogen, Wilde, Norton, and Cruz, all of whom are tasked with and overwhelmingly succeed in keeping the audience invested from the very first moments to the time the credits roll.
It’s a testament to Wilde’s filmmaking that the word ‘enthralling’ best describes a movie that features just four performers and occurs in just one location. The contentious yet hilarious back-and-forth between Rogen and Wilde, as a strained couple who argue about anything and everything, alone could carry an entire film, but, when Norton and Cruz enter the fray, the movie adopts a newfound energy and tension.
Wilde, alongside editors Yorgos Mavropsaridis and Anthony Boys, crafts a masterclass in editing. The trio create a movie filled to the brim with scenes punctuated by picture-perfect comedic cutaways, pauses, and reaction shots.
None of this hard work behind the scenes would pay off, however, without performers capable of landing the humor and contention of its characters. All four actors are given ample moments to shine, with each responsible for multiple laugh out loud gags. Wilde and Rogen, in particular, deliver certain lines and produce specific facial expressions that are destined to generate huge laughs from theater crowds. A screenplay that leans on wit, dry humor, physical comedy, observational jokes, and more is taken full advantage of the foursome, even if not every joke lands as intended.
For as funny as The Invite is, Wilde’s film also affords its performers ample opportunities to delve into more dramatic material. The most striking example of this comes in the form of a beautiful monologue from Edward Norton, which Wilde revealed was improvised during a Q&A after the screening. Up until this point in the film, Norton is probably the one of the four actors pushed most to the periphery, but he eventually produces a stunningly authentic and stirring performance in a scene that is destined to go down as one of the best of 2026.
Beyond Norton’s moving monologue, however, The Invite doesn’t quite achieve the same success with its dramatic material as it does its comedic material. An ending that sees Rogen and Wilde’s character’s marriage turned completely on its head is clearly intended to evoke warmth and compassion, but the hostility in their relationship that has been front and center for the preceding 100 minutes means that the ultimate resolution feels unearned.
Unlike another film that screened at this year’s Chicago Critics Film Festival, The Invite adopts a more wholesome approach to exploring sexual liberation. The stuntedness and staleness of Wilde and Rogen’s character’s relationship starkly juxtaposes the electric energy and undeniable coolness that Norton and Cruz’s relationship exudes. As the plot develops and the intentions of Norton and Cruz’s characters become more clear, Wilde’s film moves beyond incessant and thoroughly entertaining bickering to converge on a more meaningful message. Through a night that, for all intents and purposes, goes from awkward to bad to unimaginable, we see one couple address issues that have long simmered in their relationship, all driven by the presence of a sexually adventurous other couple.
VERDICT: 7/10
The Invite marks Olivia Wilde’s best directorial effort to date. While Booksmart offered a sharp but tonally uneven coming-of-age story and Don’t Worry Darling rehashed familiar themes, Wilde’s latest movie finds the filmmaker striking a more authentic balance between humor and grounded relationship dynamics. Relying heavily on sharp dialogue and strong performances from its four leads, the film maintains engagement through witty banter, effective comedic timing, and vibrant energy, particularly once Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton enter the mix. Though the screenplay excels in delivering a variety of laughs and is aided by masterful comedic editing, the film’s dramatic resolution feels somewhat unearned. The standout moment of the film, meanwhile, goes to Edward Norton, who delivers a stirring, improvised monologue in a scene destined to down as one of 2026’s best. Ultimately, The Invite blends comedy and commentary on sexual liberation and relationship stagnation to great effect, creating a chaotic night for its characters and an enthralling time for its audience.