“The Invite”
“The Invite” (107 mins, Rated R for sexual material, language throughout, and drug use) 8 out of 10
“The Invite” is an outstandingly written, directed and acted film that plays more like a stage play about a couple who, whether they know it or not, are at a crossroads in their stalled, stale marriage. They’re depicted as being around 40, a time of self-reevaluation of one’s situation with your partner, contemplating a future with or without this person, inexplicably brought to a head when the upstairs neighbors are invited for dinner. This is the setup to a time of self-reflection and prioritizing.
As penned by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack based on a 2020 Spanish film “The People Upstairs,” actress-director Olivia Wilde has taken this in-depth self-analyzing story to amazing introspective perceptions of how relationships work, or not work, though the success of one’s marriage could be the downfall of someone else’s. For Angela (Wilde) and Joe (Seth Rogen), they have fallen into the abyss of constant bickering about everything under the sun, struggling to find anything to be happy about in their slowly crumbling marriage. How to turn it around? Maybe invite the neighbors over?
Angela, who planned the visitation, had an agenda, though unsure what it is, but something to dig into the eroding relationship she’s having with Joe, who was clueless about their visit. So, when Hawk (Edward Norton) and girlfriend Pina (Penelope Cruz), saunter in, it sparks some brittle, funny, caustic, and, yes, painful conversation about themselves. The focus is on how the evening will turn out Angela and Joe, with Hawk and Pina acting as catalysts for Angela and Joe to take a long, long look at who they are as a couple, and whether they have what it takes to turn things around.
You know, some marriages deserve to be saved…you can tell if a couple was made for each other, but lost their way, needing a course-correction to realize it. For Angela and Joe, it’s just not there…they prey upon each other’s weaknesses – something that is exposed to great heights when Hawk and Pina admit the reason for their visit was to invite them to join their sex group club. It’s quite an eye-opener for the stodgy couple who admit to not being intimate for over a year. Perhaps this could provide the spark they need. And this is where the witty gamesmanship clicks in. Will they go for it?
“The Invite” features keen observations into the psyche of two people at wits-end on how to relate to their partners…a series of neurotic wisecracking jokes that’s bitterly funny, but also deadly serious. It’s a script that keeps you on your toes wondering what direction it’s going to take for Angela and Joe that treats sexual folly with constructive plausibility that for some, works. But for Angela and Joe, I don’t think so, even though they try giving it a whirl. How these revelations matter about themselves is at the heart of the story – and the script is wise enough to probe it with humor and candor.
All four actors occupy certain aspects of human nature, Angela a bucket of nervous energy, Rogen a crusty one-dimensional curmudgeon, Norton as intellectually smarmy and Cruz as the hot sexy siren with no filters. It’s a clash of contrasting personalities in a screenplay that provides each character ample opportunity to explain themselves…and it’s a thought-provoking experience that asks us to do our own self-examination. “The Invite” is currently playing at theaters…and it’s worth seeing.
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