The Invite (2026)

Believe it or not, nineteen years have passed since Seth Rogen’s first lead movie role in Knocked Up (2007), which is the exact same amount of time that separated Meatballs (1979) from Rushmore (1998) for their star Bill Murray. The world has watched Rogen mature in mainstream comedies and in The Invite, the enduring actor seems to have arrived at the middle age melancholy that defined Murray’s career-reviving and extending first turn for Wes Anderson. It may not quite be a full reinvention; Rogen provided avuncular support in Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical The Fabelmans back in 2022 and he dipped in his toes into offbeat arthouse fare before in Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz (2012), but the development is one of several surprises and subversions on-camera and off that distinguish A24’s four-handed dramedy, which marks the fifth international adaptation of the 2020 Spanish film Sentimental (The People Upstairs), itself based on the writer-director’s Barcelona stage play.

In The Invite, unfulfilled conservatory associate professor Joe (Rogen) struggles with San Francisco’s many hills on his folding bicycle ride home from work to learn that his wife Angela (Olivia Wilde) has been getting everything just right for a dinner date with their upstairs neighbors, Hawk (Edward Norton) and Pína (Penélope Cruz). There’s a soufflé in the oven, an assortment of meticulously composed charcuterie on the table, and no wine other than a bottle of champagne, which is just one of many sources of contention surrounding our hosts’ seemingly spontaneous socialization.

The two couples are not friends. Joe is not a fan of the small talk Hawk has subjected him to on shared elevator rides. Then there is the touchy topic of neighborly noise. Joe and Angela have some guilt about the loud renovations their own inherited unit has undergone, but the couple is divided on how to broach the subject of the loud sex noises that Hawk and Pína have repeatedly generated deep into the night.

Adapted into English by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, the creative team behind 2012’s Celeste and Jesse Forever, The Invite keeps viewers on their toes as its onscreen quartet dances around these issues and teases brewing conflict by planting seeds and watering them, so to speak. It is clear to us, and to Hawk and Pína also, that Joe and Angela’s marriage is strained and quite possibly held together only by complacency and an unseen 12-year-old daughter who’s spending the night at a friend’s house.

The dynamic of retired firefighter Hawk and psychotherapist Pína, who have been together for only a year, stands in stark contrast to our hosts. As the couples split up into mixed-sex pairs and then reconvene, our understanding of this evening evolves. The sexual liberation that Hawk and Pína detail confuses and intrigues Joe and Angela, as the film’s title changes meaning before our very eyes. Suddenly, it is Joe and Angela being invited to something less ordinary than a meat and cheese tray.

Wilde’s third feature as director is somehow every bit as surprising as her previous two films, but in utterly different ways. Her debut, 2019’s high school graduation comedy Booksmart, was met with universal acclaim and healthy profit. Her follow-up, 2022’s Don’t Worry Darling, was plagued by criticism and controversy in connection with the director’s romance with leading man Harry Styles, but still managed to open in first place with a formidable fall debut. Wilde’s third effort is clearly her best. It is clever, subversive, and thoughtful, its intimate presentation fraught with stewing tension and unearthing genuine pathos and insight. It is also, without a doubt, one of the funniest films of the decade.

All four of the cast members are game and razor sharp here. For some viewers, those who may know him from the raunchy comedies on which he built his brand, Rogen might seem to be a revelation here. As someone born the same year as him, who has watched the brilliant single season of “Freaks and Geeks” in full multiple times, I personally was not surprised but very much pleased to see him leading the way in a film that hits its targets, something that hasn’t happened in quite some time. Between this film and his much-decorated Apple TV series “The Studio”, Rogen seems to have cemented himself as an enduring voice of Millennials, paying off on the promise that Knocked Up rung in that summer nearly two decades ago. Staying relevant as the type of comedies he made fell out of favor and largely disappeared is no minor achievement and Rogen deserves credit, despite some questionable decisions he’s made over the years.

While the focus will probably be on what Wilde is doing creatively here behind the scenes, her performance serves The Invite well. Her body of work as an actress has been spotty, which is one of the reasons her sudden ascent to respected filmmaker was so surprising. But much of this film hinges upon her character’s actions and inner anguish. It is hard to imagine any other actress hitting the needed notes so perfectly.

Norton and Cruz do not surprise, but only because they’ve both proven themselves dramatically plenty of times over the past quarter-century. Both veterans undoubtedly remind us of their considerable talent, which they’ve been a tad stingy to share in recent years.

The marketing for The Invite has been careful not to give too much away, as the distributor rightfully assumes most moviegoers will not have already seen The People Upstairs or the French, Italian, Swiss, or South Korean remakes of it. Ultimately, this film has more in common with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? than Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and we are the better for it.

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