A new romantic dramedy from A24 is garnering plenty of buzz for the performances of its stars. The Invite finds Angela (Olivia Wilde) and Joe (Seth Rogen) scrambling to organize a last minute dinner party to formally meet their upstairs neighbors Pína (Penelope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton). While the couples try to awkwardly get to know each other, the meetup gets even more awkward when Pína and Hawk extended an surprising invitation to their married neighbors.
What first grabs you about this film is the uproarious comedic element at its core, mostly played out through the dynamic between the two couples. Angela and Joe represent the archetype of the longtime couple that has now settled into parenthood and family life at the expense of their spark and chemistry, regularly drifting off into the bickering that sometimes accompanies the longevity and familiarity of years-long coupling. This is juxtaposed with Pína and Hawk’s fiery, smooth chemistry that oozes sensuality and flirtation in even the most mundane interactions with each other or those in their vicinity. The contrast is ripe for laughter as Angela and Joe are caught off guard by Pína and Hawk’s openness and adventurousness, trying to keep up while Joe tries to hide his contempt for Angela’s awe at their bohemian lifestyle.
It’s a classic clash of personalities and fish out of water type scenario for the married couple with Rogen absolutely shining in his best performance in years. His sardonic sense of humor and Everyman personality and look encapsulates the character of Joe perfectly and his one liners and barely contained annoyance in the face of Hawk’s pretentiousness are thoroughly entertaining, particularly when contrasted with Wilde’s portrayal of Angela as a middle aged wife embarrassed by the expiration of her own hipness, trying desperately to impress their new neighbors and prove herself. The awkwardness of the married couple bounces perfectly off of the straight man and woman performances of Cruz and Norton, who perfectly play neighbors trying to make nice and ignore their clumsiness. Cruz is funny in her own right while playing up Pína’s seductiveness and Norton’s dryly humorous portrayal of Hawk is great in its own right. The balance all four display is pitch perfect comedy that ensures there’s never a dull moment onscreen, despite the film itself only taking place in one small apartment. Indeed, while The Invite isn’t originally based on a stage play, Wilde and director of photography Adam Newport-Berra imbue the film with impeccable cinematography that makes it feel cinematic and visually engaging despite never leaving Angela and Joe’s apartment. Wilde loves to use mirrors in this film for framing characters in shots, resulting in eye-catching visuals throughout.
The Invite isn’t all sunshine and rainbows however as the aforementioned bickering that Angela and Joe display builds throughout the night and eventually spills over into Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? type meltdowns and a full-on confrontation regarding the status and future of their marriage. The film’s climax becomes a dramatic examination of how couples drift apart, becoming strangers even while living under the same roof. A subtle point is made that all couples and their relationships have their fissures and issues that are swept under the rug until they eventually boil over through Pína and Hawk, but the main spotlight is put on Angela and Joe, symbols of the fact that the inability to be honest with one another and talk about your relationship frustrations and struggles results in your connection metastasizing until nothing can be done. It’s a quick shift to a full-on breakup/divorce film, but done in a way that feels like the natural conclusion of all of the night’s events and the tension that had been bubbling beneath the surface between Angela and Joe from the moment the audience first sees them onscreen. Its not quite a huge shift in tone, but a noticeable change just done well enough to where the audience doesn’t suffer whiplash that takes them out of the film entirely. Kudos here to Wilde, Cruz, and Rogen for being able to shift as nimbly in the tone of their performances as the script does. They go from being the source of laughter to that of contemplation and raw evaluation of the dissolution of a marriage in ways that are believable and effective. It gives some heft to the film and compliments the earlier comedy, creating an effective dramedy that will stay with the audience for an extended period after watching.
The Invite is an extraordinary accomplishment, the best directorial output from Olivia Wilde and the best Seth Rogen performance in quite some time. Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton are perfect supporting characters with Cruz working alongside Wilde and Rogen to effectively land the seriousness of the third act. This is one of the year’s best films and must see tour de force.
Image: A24
