Film Review: THE INVITE (2026): Olivia Wilde’s Comedy is One of the Best and Most Intelligent Films of the Year
The Invite Review
The Invite (2026) Fiim Review, a movie directed by Olivia Wilde, written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack and starring Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton, Skip Howland, Mel Powell, Rachel Thurow and Mario Valdez.
Olivia Wilde has crafted The Invite, a genuinely winning comedy that starts off slowly and builds its premise up with a remarkable style of execution that rises the film straight towards the top of the year’s best movies list. Olivia Wilde directed the movie and stars in it as Angela, a seemingly typical middle-aged homemaker/mother who is married to a school instructor named Joe (Seth Rogen). What starts off as a smart relationship analysis quickly turns into one of the most entertaining movies of 2026.
This movie opens with Joe at his somewhat meaningless job. He walks into his apartment after work and deals with excruciating back pain which he experiences regularly. Angela, his wife, seems to be overly concerned with the fact that some neighbors who live in the same building as them are showing up for dinner. These neighbors, Hawk (Edward Norton) and Piña (Penélope Cruz), are quirky when they arrive at Joe and Angela’s apartment, but the married couple played by Rogen and Wilde has supposedly been listening to sounds coming from their apartment that seem like signs of great sex happening between Piña and Hawk.
Cruz quickly tries to steal the movie with so many clever line deliveries. Piña and Hawk communicate a bit in Spanish which makes for some inspired humor as Angela accidentally burns the dinner she has cooked for them. It would be nice to have some wine for the guests too, but Joe forgot to stop by a store and get some.
It is easy to see Piña and Hawk have a healthy relationship, but is there more than meets the eye regarding the habits of this unusual couple? It’s clear Piña’s orgasms are being heard from the neighboring apartment. However, what, exactly, is happening to lead to those wonderful “O’s” which Angela seems to desire a bit, herself?
Seth Rogen has never been better. He slowly gets accustomed to the routines of Piña and Hawk as they are eventually shared and Joe is hilariously asked to participate in those “routines” alongside Angela. Rogen makes this performance count with tremendous sincerity being brought to the role of the neglectful husband who fails to realize how prized an asset he has with Angela.
The Invite, without giving too much away, is very frank when it digs into the sexual topics it explores head-on and fearlessly. Piña is, arguably, the most open person in the room and Cruz’s vulnerability on screen proves why she is one of Hollywood’s most versatile Oscar-winning actresses. Cruz lights up the room with discussions on meaty topics that Piña opens the movie’s smart conversations up with.
Olivia Wilde may have the most juicy role in The Invite, however. That’s because Wilde bites into the character of Angela really deep. Angela has just purchased a fancy new rug which becomes the topic of discussion once Hawk notices it and wouldn’t you know Hawk is seemingly something of a rug connoisseur? Wilde plays the housewife with extraordinary precision and adds many different examples of passion and confusion through her well-written characterization.
Norton certainly shines, too. As Hawk (which turns out not to be his real names, after all) seems a bit manipulative at first to get what he desires, there are truths about his character and about Piña as well that reveal themselves to viewers one secret at a time.
The Invite becomes a fast-paced mediation on stagnant relationships. Both sides of infidelity (either real or hypothetical) are explored in great detail. Though Joe and Angela have a daughter, she isn’t shown on-screen. Yet, she remains a possible reason that this couple has failed to have sex together in about a year’s time. Or maybe it’s something much deeper and profound. Could Piña and Hawk rescue the relationship between Angela and Joe and in what particular way, if so?
Wilde directs with perfect, very skillful story-telling techniques that enhance the enjoyment of the film very much. There’s a distinct reason for the sexual discussions that are had by the characters in the movie. They will open up a discussion for this movie’s audiences and Wilde relishes every second of her incredible performance which shines with authenticity. Wilde is fearless and her performance helps carry the movie through thick and thin.
Cruz is a legend. She never once sidesteps the purpose of her rich characterization in the grand scheme of things. With blondish hair, this is a character different from most of Cruz’s previous ones. Cruz should be considered for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination as her role is the clear stand out out of four finely-tuned performances.
Rogen, surprisingly, never feels wrongly cast. He has a ball dipping into the situations that the new movie proposes. Rogen and Wilde create the right type of disjointed chemistry that makes the viewer understand the couple they portray and why the visit of Hawk and Piña is so perfect and so important in the development of the characters of Joe and Angela .
The Invite rarely (or never) hits a false note. The quality of the performances is just too strong to let anyone in the cast feel like they were hoodwinked into making this movie which is, above all else, about sex, for better or worse. It’s true that The Invite could test viewers’ patience in regards to how the bizarre dinner will go and where it will lead, but, as a director, Wilde is on-point with big ideas that will make audiences go, “Wow,” because of the dedication of all the film’s central stars.
Though The Invite could have a stage-like feel to it to some audiences, it is relentlessly entertaining despite (or perhaps because of) that fact. This movie examines the topic of sexual satisfaction with no filters and is all the better a film because of that. Also, on top of that is the idea that the new movie takes the kind of risks that could actually make quirky, offbeat movies great again. It is the power of Wilde’s remarkable talents both in front of the camera and behind it that drive the success of the film.
The Invite is a dark comedy that has many earnest moments of dramatic intensity. With a quartet of inspired performance top-lining the movie, it’s easy to laugh, cry and everything in-between while watching what is showcased in Wilde’s daring and hugely successful movie. What a treat The Invite is to behold in all its hilarious glory.
Rating: 9.5/10
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