I get a sense of nerdy delight when I’m able to identify a filmmaker’s influences when making a movie. Friends, if I were a betting critic, I would lay money that Olivia Wilde’s hypothetical production mood board while working on The Invite is sure to have a few figures on it: John Cassavetes and Robert Altman to name a few. The Inviteis part Bob & Carol and Ted & Alice and part Diary of a Mad Housewife with a dash of A Woman Under the Influence thrown in. 

I’ll admit it. My film historian side was giddy when I came out of this intimate, small-scale, comedy. I had the entire thing cast in my brain if it were released in 1974: Natalie Wood (Olivia Wilde), George Segal (Seth Rogen), Frank Langella (Edward Norton) and Rita Moreno (Penélope Cruz). 

I keep seeing The Invite marketed as a comedy and that’s not a lie… it’s just not quite the truth either. This movie has three distinct flavors and it’s fascinating to watch the story shift from a comedy of second-hand embarrassment, to a silly, sex comedy in the second act to a finale which isn’t afraid to marinate and get a little personal. Honestly? As this film comes to an end, it taps into emotions that left me feeling more than a little raw. It brings memories of those relationships. Those people. Those times when no one is at their best.

This goes a long way to say that The Invite isn’t the easy sit some might think. I’d even call it “uncomfy,” especially in the third act. This is a movie that’s fascinated with not only the messy and inconvenient emotions we all bring to humanity, but also how these emotions complicate romantic relationships. Kids, I’m obsessed with director Olivia Wilde’s patience to sit with all of The Invite’s emotional messiness, especially in the third act. 

I love a story that talks about the often complicated question of communication in relationships. This is why, I think, The Invite feels like such a relic (in a good way!) of the 1970s. This film zeroes in on these characters to a granular level and we feel everything they are not saying and how, in fact, each unspoken feeling weighs on their relationship. This is a film about the cracks we’re trying to hide in our external facade. It harkens beautifully back to the middle of the twentieth century when everyone had baggage, and no one knew how to express it. 

The Invite is Wilde’s directorial follow-up to Don’t Worry Darling (2022), a film that asked some interesting questions, but could never quite stick the landing. The sci-fi drama was a big, ostentatious work that was, frustratingly overpowered by not only a complicated script, but also a… dramatic press tour. 

Wilde has scaled things way back this time around. She showed exactly what she could do with her intimately scaled debut feature Booksmart in 2019 and in The Invite, Wilde is putting the focus exactly where it needs to be, on these fascinating characters. She’s a confident director in the best way possible. She isn’t afraid to let her camera run and stew in this (occasionally) uncomfortable movie. She knows one vital thing. Let your actors do what they do best. They can do it. 

Rashida Jones and Will McCormack’s whip-smart script stands on the shoulders of formidable performances. This critic has a decidedly complicated relationship with Seth Rogen, but as the comedian continues to age out of his “stoner comedy” demographic, he’s doing some really interesting work. This, for me at least, felt lightyears away from the roles that rubbed me wrong in Knocked Up and This Is The End. Is this his Knocked Up character twenty years later after being forced to grow up? His take on Joe in The Invite is tense, layered and about to burst— it’s one of my favorite Rogen roles thus far. Maybe, my friends, I haven’t been giving him enough credit. 

At the same time, one of my favorite things to see in movies is an Ed Norton performance when he’s having fun. Ed Norton is an actor who’s never afraid to go super deep and he can get a little intense. As “Hawk” he’s tapping into a winking silliness that he’s been playing with over the last few years in works like Glass Onion, Asteroid City and even A Complete Unknown. I love this free and easy Ed Norton. More of this, please, Hollywood. 

I don’t want to see The Invite fall into a PR trap. Sure, there’s a ton of trailers proclaiming this the funniest film of 2026. My theater was laughing heartily. This oversimplifies The Invite though, if I’m honest. This is a complicated work that isn’t afraid to get uncomfortable. It stews in emotions that aren’t the easiest to acknowledge and it makes you sit with them. This is Olivia Wilde bringing her best John Cassavetes and I am oh, so, here for it. 

The Invite is now playing in select theaters. The film opens in theaters around the country July 10th.