"The Invite" REVIEW

Published on 7/18/2026 

Written by: Braylon Mitchell 

Directed by: Olivia Wilde 

Cast: Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton. 

Plot: Joe and Angela's marriage is on thin ice. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors for a dinner party, the night spirals into unexpected places. 

REVIEW 

Leaving the theater, it was easy to listen to that nagging, lovely insistence in my mind that what I'd just watched was something special. Olivia Wilde is by no means a new filmmaker, her 2019 breakout directorial debut "Booksmart" was one of the funniest comedies of recent memory and while a critical and commercial flop 2022's "Don't Worry Darling" certainly had a ton of eyes on it, but it's with this film where I feel as if the film industry and community alike will finally begin to praise the exciting, established filmmaking voice that she is. A remake adaptation of the Spanish film, "The People Upstairs" with hints of being influenced by that of Mike Nichols, Woody Allen, etc. within Rashida Jones & Will McCormack's script and Wilde's direction—this may be one of those films where you can pitch it to someone easily as "oh, it's like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" but that doesn't mean it uses its influences or adaptive nature cheaply, instead this film manages to wonderfully internalize its influences and allow itself to be its own piece of filmmaking—thanks largely in part to the profusely cinematic direction from Olivia Wilde. This is a film with four characters, four performances in an apartment talking for two hours. One location "chamber piece" films such as these can, and often do, feel too stagey or lacking in cinematic language. You don't have to worry about that with this film. This film is directed with a, dare I say it, masterful sense of how to make this type of film feel cinematic. The blocking, framing, and visual depth are insanely creative throughout Almost every single shot of this film refuses to play it safe, painting the picture with purpose and intrigue in its visual output. No matter how excellent the performances and screenplay are, it's that beautiful marriage of artistic virtue in direction and cinematography that elevated this film to be as truly engrossing as it is. As a comedy, this film is hilarious down to its core. I laughed so much, and so hard. Due to the screenplay being as comedically sharp as it is and the refuge of improvisation between the four members of the ensemble, this is by far one of the funniest films of the year. Its comedic efficiency makes for a great vehicle for the film's exercise in emotional catharsis, extracting all the substance you'd want out of a character study about complex humans and the end of a relationship. Especially by its final twenty minutes, this film lets out all of its emotional punches when it comes to the reality of a relationship fading—in particular, making for a cathartic, bittersweet ending that had me teary eyed. This is one of the very best, most well-crafted, well-written, well-acted films of 2026. 

FIVE BEST ELEMENTS

(For times that it feels exclusively fitting and for films that I am very excited about, I will be including my "five best elements" instead of my traditional three.)

• Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogen's performances. Wilde's performance is possibly the funniest out of the four, and the most heartbreaking. The crazed desperation to be noticed, the awkwardness, and emotional turmoil of her character is captured in a way that's as emotionally compelling as it is downright hilarious. Her very emotive facial expressions alone sell everything she wants us to feel about her performance. Seth Rogen continues his film and TV hot streak of delivering career-best performances, he's excellent in this. 

• Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton's performances. Cruz is killer. She is one of the most skillful actresses currently working, so it's no surprise to me in the slightest that her performance is as engaging and well-realized as it is. This is some of the best Norton has been in years as well, in particular he has a standout monologue in the third act that I suspect many will point to as one of the best acted moments of his career. 

• Olivia Wilde's direction. As I extensively tried to make evident in the paragraph above, I adored Wilde's direction of this film. Not to say I want her to get pigeonholed into making this same exact brand of film over and over again, as she's already proved with her previous two films that she's interested in varied projects, but to me there's no denying she touched into a serious sense of directorial strength guiding this film to be as artistically bold as it is. I'm rooting for an Oscar nomination for Best Director to come her way. 

• The screenplay. Written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones (I've been a fan of hers ever since seeing her on "Parks and Recreation", and until now I didn't know how great of a writer she was) this screenplay is already in early contention for being the best screenplay of the year, at least in my eyes. This is a flashy, dialogue-heavy script with several layers of pure comedic enjoyment and character complexity. When it comes to scripts in 2026 cinema, this might just be the sharpest tool in the shed. 

• The editing. Possibly the biggest unsung hero of this film is the brilliant editing. Editors Anthony Boy and Yorgos Marvopsaridis ("Poor Things", "The Favourite") stitch together the film with such a clever, guided understanding of exactly how long to linger on certain shots and how to cut together scenes to convey the best comedic effect. The opening credits sequence is so fun and playfully edited as well. 

WORST ELEMENT 

• Nothing notable to me. 

RATING

9/10

It's one of this year's best films, buddy!