The following contains light spoilers for The InviteThere are plenty of anti-romantic movies out there, flipping the script on one of the fundamental types of stories. Love is a common theme held across cultures, making it perfect fodder for subversion and exploration in films like The Invite. The trick to Olivia Wilde’s new film is that it manages to be emotionally blunt without getting lost in that genre.
Introducing itself as a comedy along the lines of fellow modern uncomfortable dark dramedies like The Roses and The Drama, The Invite plays its taboo subject matter for big laughs while laying the seeds for more tricky emotional material. This is where the film excels, deploying a heartbreaking exploration of love in an effective manner.
What really makes The Invite good, though, is the way it doesn’t stop being funny when it becomes sad. That balance is something other entries in the genre have been more separated by, harsher scenes of emotional vulnerability up against grimmer gags. By contrast, The Invite never loses sight of the comedy that makes it so engaging up front, keeping things enteraining even as it gets somber.
The Invite Is Uncomfortable And Hilarious
Based on the stage play Els veïns de dalt / Los vecinos de arriba, which was later adapted into the Spanish film The People Upstairs, The Invite is largely focused on Olivia Wilde’s Angela and her husband, Seth Rogen’s Joe. Neither of them is their best selves when introduced, with both of their foibles — Joe’s bluntness and antagonism, Angela’s manipulations and falsehoods — reveal themselves.
They aren’t idealized romantic partners, and even the flashes of long-worn understanding and genuine care between them come sandwiched between snide jabs and furious outbursts. The entire movie revolves around the vibes that exist between Joe and Angela and their neighbors Pína and Hawk.
There’s a tension to the script by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones that never quite feels like it breaks, even as Wild and the sound team use the score to enunciate certain turns and emotional beats. There’s a real comic pacing to The Invite, whether that be in silent expressions or big outbursts, that keeps the uncomfortable truths and awkward turns moving in unexpected ways.
It’s a movie that mines a lot of different types of jokes threaded through a single apartment, whether that be through fast-pattered dialogue, stunned looks, or physical gags like Seth Rogen getting himself hurt while trying to be seductive. It’s also uncomfortable — but not in the way that Tim Robinson plays with the emotion.
There’s still a layer of comedic escalation that distances the characters from the stunned disconnect of the context, no silent as characters muse about what someone else just said. Even when things are real and vulnerable, there’s an aside glance or an upset punchline that keeps the comedy flowing. It’s a funny movie to the core, despite (and largely due) to the raw emotional content.
There have been plenty of subversive and bittersweet reimaginings of the “romcom” genre over the years, with the best ones often still finding bittersweet emotion amid the snarky ending of relationships and the fury of jilted feelings. The Roses, (500) Days of Summer, and plenty of other firms find comedy in heartbreak.
These movies, by their very nature, are going to impact the viewer emotionally. It recalls failed relationships and painful memories, of the feelings of love betrayed. That’s the real throughline of the film, a sudden jolt to a marriage that showcases every crack that’s been quietly killing it for years.
The sexual elements of The Invite are good set-ups for the cast to get hook into their characters through a taboo suggestion, but the real meat and bones of the film is found in the character dynamics this upsets. It’s not even the question of the extramarital potential or potential ramifications that makes The Invite so affecting.
Instead, it’s the betrayal of trust and the frustrations of relationships that have been stewing, all bubbling over at this prompting. It’s as emotional as any romantic drama, only with comedic outbursts. Like the best takes on this genre, The Invite ends on a subtly ambiguous note of understanding and empathy and love amid the worst fight of their lives.
It speaks to the delicate approach to love Wilde is playing with here. For all the sex jokes and bits about weed, The Invite is more of a tragedy than a comedy — which is what makes all the funny moments so necessary and so effective. Initially playing like an unexpected sex comedy, the third act of The Invite transforms it into a comedic cousin to Marriage Story.
