The Invite

While many are quite familiar with Olivia Wilde and what she offers in range as an actress, it's also fair to say her time in the director's chair has been a bit uneven. Before the film in question today, Wilde helmed the well-received Booksmart and then followed up with the more polarising Don't Worry Darling. The point is, Wilde hadn't quite managed to establish and cement herself as a director to watch out for, but maybe this has now changed.

Enter The Invite. What we have here is without question Wilde's finest directorial effort. It's a rom-com drama that revolves entirely around two couples and how a fateful evening dinner brings them together and pushes them apart. On one side we have Wilde's Angela who is married to Seth Rogen's Joe, and these two are the 'rock-solid' couple who have been together for 12 years and have become frankly too comfortable and complacent in their day-to-day lives. They take each other for granted, scream and shout at each other when they don't agree, and otherwise micro-manage one another to an unhealthy level. You have to ask yourself "are these two even happy?" Then opposite we have Penelope Cruz's Pina and Edward Norton's Hawk, a much more passionate and eccentric pair who have been partners for around a year and seem to be far more comfortable and happy around one another, making for a clearly polarising setup splitting the four main characters.

From here, the entire premise basically revolves around a dinner party gone wrong and how Angela stresses about every single thing while Joe wants to confront the neighbours about their loud late-night intimacy. While there's enough awkward and passive aggression to carry the entire film with just this purpose in mind, things take a leap into truly hilarious waters when it's revealed Pina and Hawk engage in group sex and want to bring Joe and Angela into the fold.

You can probably imagine where things start to go from here as you see a more frigid and distant couple being thrust into a chaotic encounter with an open and passionate pair. It's the emotional equivalent of hitting a boat with a torpedo, as the immediate impact is explosive and exciting all before realism hits, panic and chaos ensues, and everything begins burning and falling apart. This is almost exactly what The Invite is about, being present and watching a ship slowly sink or a car crashing in slow-motion. It's immensely effective as a setup both because the drama is fulfilling to follow but also because this movie is expertly written, with top of the line dialogue and four intricately designed character archetypes that bounce off one another to wonderful effect. There's no room for fluff, no need for excess exposition, not even a single extra supporting character to swoop in and distract you from this one dinner party, this one singular apartment, and these four bewildering personas.

All of this combines to make for a film that is incredibly focused and direct, allowing its stars to shine in a way they may otherwise not be allowed to do so. Wilde is wonderful as the anxious Angela, Rogen thrives as the down-to-earth and comic relief tool of Joe, Norton puts on a remarkably emotional performance as a character you'll start by disliking and grow to appreciate, and then there's Cruz, who steals the spotlight despite all of this praise. When she's in a scene, you immediately find yourself drawn to Pina, both because of how Cruz's performance commands each scene, but also down to her flamboyance and the way she flaunts around like a peacock who wants and needs all eyes to be on her.

The Invite is a movie that strips back all of the messy qualities films can often stumble into and instead puts the power into the hands of its performers. It's a bold choice, and one that could have been disastrous, but the casting choices made here and the skills of the various stars don't just save this film but they elevate it into something exceptional, ultimately serving up one of the finest rom-coms in recent memory and an equally effective emotional drama too that takes you on a roller coaster of ups and downs as the characters grow as individuals and pairs.

Seriously, watch The Invite. It's both hilarious and truly gripping at the same time, and you won't be disappointed.