{"id":14731,"date":"2026-07-11T19:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T23:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=14731"},"modified":"2026-07-11T19:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T23:16:11","slug":"the-invite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2026\/07\/11\/the-invite\/","title":{"rendered":"The Invite"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Invite<\/strong> (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A24\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 107 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (sexual material, language throughout, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Olivia Wilde\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Will McCormack and Rashida Jones\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Devonte Hynes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Adam Newport-Berra\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 26, 2026 (US, limited)\/July 10, 2026 (US, wide)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penelope Cruz, Edward Norton.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Welcome to the most uncomfortable dinner party you\u2019re ever likely to bear witness to. Would you like a glass of wine? Oh, there isn\u2019t any. Somebody forgot to buy it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In a season typically defined by head-splitting, eye-straining blockbuster wannabes, an adult drama like The Invite<\/strong> comes as a shock to the system. It feels like an oasis in a desert of stupidity. It commits the cardinal sin of summer movies. It chooses to focus on its characters rather than budget-draining FX. To many, that will be a deal breaker. Others might appreciate it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If you\u2019ve seen the trailer for The Invite<\/strong> and I\u2019m sure you have, you know a crucial plot point is being held back. Something is being hinted at. You probably already know what it is. Rather, you think you know what it is. Here\u2019s what I\u2019m gonna do. I\u2019m going to give it to you now just to tell you if you\u2019re right or wrong. If you don\u2019t want to know, STOP READING THIS REVIEW RIGHT NOW! You know I don\u2019t like dropping spoilers, but I can\u2019t review The Invite<\/strong> without talking about it. Okay, here it comes. Yes, it\u2019s about partner swapping. One couple proposes it to the other. It\u2019s not met with disgust by the other couple. And there you have it!<\/p>\n

\u00a0One of the most interesting things about The Invite<\/strong> is its refusal to moralize or judge its characters. Director Olivia Wilde (Booksmart) simply lays it all down (characters and situation) and lets it play out while we look on. She leaves any judgment to the viewer.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Joe (Rogen, The Studio) is an extremely unhappy man. A failed musician, he now teaches music to teens at a conservatory. He has a decidedly hands-off approach to his job. He\u2019s unhappily married to Angela (Wilde), a stay-at-home mother who fills the void in her life by focusing on home d\u00e9cor. They\u2019re constantly arguing. It starts the minute he walks through the door and doesn\u2019t stop.<\/p>\n

\u00a0On this particular evening, they\u2019re fighting over Angela inviting the upstairs neighbors to dinner. Joe says he knows nothing about it. She claims she told him and berates him for ignoring her text about bringing home a bottle of wine. Joe doesn\u2019t like these people because they make a lot of noise. He can hear them loudly having sex almost every night. He plans to confront them about it. Angela tells him to keep quiet.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The other couple, sex therapist Pina (Cruz, Parallel Mothers) and retired firefighter Hawk (Norton, Primal Fear), sense the tension between Joe and Angela immediately. It makes for an awkward start to the evening. It doesn\u2019t get much better from there what with Pina\u2019s dietary restrictions and Joe openly antagonizing their guests. Slowly, they start to warm up to one another.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The subject of sex comes up and that\u2019s when the guests reveal what\u2019s really going on at their place. They\u2019re into the group sex thing. Naturally, Joe and Angela are shocked. Then Pina invites them to take part in a session which would entail switching partners. Should they accept? Maybe it\u2019ll fix their fractured marriage.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I have mixed feelings about The Invite<\/strong>. It\u2019s an interesting film; I\u2019m not sure if I like it though. The characters aren\u2019t all that likable. Joe and Angela are pretty insufferable. Pina and Hawk overstep frequently. There\u2019s a lot of yelling. The score by Devonte Hynes comes in hard and heavy, especially during the more intense scenes. That\u2019s actually one of the movie\u2019s faults. Wilde doesn\u2019t trust the dialogue to speak for itself so she lets the string-heavy score do the talking, to let us know that what we\u2019re witnessing is supposed to be intense. It certainly increases one\u2019s feeling of discomfort, but a more seasoned director would avoid such an obvious move.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I may not have liked the characters, but I love how they\u2019re written. Rashida Jones and Will McCormack (Celeste and Jesse Forever) take the time to develop their characters. They\u2019re not just bodies occupying space; they\u2019re fully formed people who react in ways that feel real. It helps that Wilde cast talented actors in the roles. Rogen is as adept with drama as he is comedy. His Joe seethes with resentment that can be felt through the screen. This isn\u2019t the life he imagined for himself. He can\u2019t even bring himself to listen to his band\u2019s one hit song. In addition, he leans right into every verbal blow thrown by Wilde, herself angry over not feeling fulfilled. She wants more from life than picking out rugs. She blames Joe for her unhappiness.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cruz is an amazing actress in addition to being incredibly gorgeous. She\u2019s fantastic as Pina, a woman with no inhibitions, sexually or otherwise. She\u2019s not afraid to ask the tough questions. Pina\u2019s no-BS attitude perfectly contrasts with the strained politeness of her hosts. Norton brings a calm demeanor to Hawk, a man who rejects bourgeois morality for a life of unfiltered truth and pleasure. Their bohemian lifestyle flies in the face of conventionality; Joe and Angela are both curious and jealous. The dynamics between the four characters are fascinating from a psychological standpoint.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So what\u2019s my take on The Invite<\/strong>? It\u2019s flawed for sure. It\u2019s not always easy to watch, especially in the first half. To her credit, Wilde self-corrects and reigns in the score. I will say that it\u2019s never boring. It\u2019s consistently interesting. I\u2019m kind of surprised it\u2019s playing at multiplexes. It\u2019s really more of an arthouse film. I sincerely hope its intended audience finds it.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Invite (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A24\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 107 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (sexual material, language throughout, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Olivia Wilde\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Will McCormack and Rashida Jones\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Devonte Hynes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Adam Newport-Berra\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 26, 2026 (US, limited)\/July 10, 2026 (US, wide)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penelope Cruz, Edward Norton. Rating: *** \u00a0Welcome to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-now-playing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/The-Invite-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C967&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14731"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14735,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14731\/revisions\/14735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}