“This is a very cold apartment” Angela (Olivia Wilde) tells her upstairs neighbour Hawk (Edward Norton) after he recommends that she invest in new windows. While the statement is meant to be a response to his claims that her old-style window retains heat in the summer, the audience sees another layer to her words as well. It is Angela’s marriage, and not mother nature, that makes the apartment chilly.
One does not need to peep through the curtainless window to see that there are problems between Angela and her husband Joe (Seth Rogen) in Olivia Wilde’s third directorial effort The Invite. Married for years, and with a daughter the audience never sees, the couple seems to have opposite views on everything. Every conversation quickly digresses into a spat over the smallest things. Take for example, her unwavering claims that she told him Hawk and his wife Piña (Penélope Cruz) were coming for dinner, an event she says has been in the planning for months, despite him having no recollection of such discussions.
While Angela is eager to impress and befriend their neighbours, even buying a new rug for the occasion, Joe wants nothing to do with them. Everything about the upstairs couple, including their need to engage in conversation in the elevator and their loud sexual encounters, annoys him.
Unaware that the turbulent waves of their union threaten to leave them adrift at sea, Angela and Joe try to put on a pleasant façade while entertaining their guests. Unfortunately, Hawk and Piña have no interest in helping them keep up appearances. Hearing the bickering from outside, their neighbours, who ooze chemistry when speaking Spanish to each other, are far more interested in getting Angela and Joe to embrace more honesty.
As the alcohol and weed start flowing, and the foursome become more comfortable with each other, Angela and Joe’s eyes are opened to some revelations that could change their relationship forever.
The Invite may be set in a spacious apartment, but one feels the walls slowly closing in on the couple. It’s within these suffocating confines that the film finds plenty of humour and emotional honesty in the things couples often leave unsaid. Making the audience feel every awkward moment, Wilde’s film effectively captures how resentment can metastasize to all aspects of a relationship.
Backed by a piercing script by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, The Invite understands that scales of marriage are rarely balanced. It takes sacrifice on both parts to keep the bonds of a relationship glued together, which is something that Angela and Joe struggle with. Stuck in the fog of choices from the past, neither can see the harsh truths that are staring them in the face.
It is a testament to Wilde’s skills as a filmmaker that The Invite manages to explore the potential demise of a relationship while still keeping its sharp sense of humour. Already showing her directorial chops, with the amusing Booksmart and the intriguing, but ultimately misguided, Don’t Worry Darling, Wilde shows plenty of growth as a director here. Not only does she weave in plenty of commentary about the ways women are often shamed into repressing their sexuality and the changes that come with perimenopause, but she ensures that the audience is constantly reflecting on the Angela and Joe’s in their own lives.
This connection between the audience and the characters is achieved thanks in part to the wonderful work of the ensemble cast. Wilde is fantastic as Angela, the eager to please former artist whose smiling face cannot fully mask her sadness. By comparison, Joe’s unhappiness is written all over his face. Rogen does a great job giving his character plenty of depth; one feels the sense of regret that Joe cannot seem to shake. While it can be argued that Cruz and Norton have the showiest roles in the film, and both are sensational in their respective roles, they perfectly compliment their co-stars without ever overshadowing them.
Offering a funny and honest look at the challenges marriages face, and featuring outstanding performances all around, one should not pass up this invite.
