REEL | Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde Throw 'The Invite' x SIFF 2026

"We love a contentious environment!"

A24 / VVS Films

Actress/filmmaker Olivia Wilde directs and stars alongside Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton in the comedic chamber-piece involving two middle-aged San Francisco couples and neighbours at a contentiously impromptu dinner party gone wrong, The Invite. Adapted from the Spanish-language comedy, The People Upstairs (aka Sentimental), the stage-like film exploits our conceptions of contemporary romantic and sexual relationships.

Expertly blocked and framed by cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra, Wilde's balance of sharp dialogue, shifting dramatic tones, and comic timing makes the hysterical film so amusingly tense. It's a film of many ongoing, crisscrossing conversations that converge into a spectacular series of personal revelations with every comment resting on a knife's edge of constant anxiety.

Scripted by actors Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, The Invite focuses on the resentment and dysfunction of Rogen and Wilde's equally miserable Joe and Angela in sharp contrast to Norton and Cruz's sexually-liberated Pina and Hawk. We get intensely clear insights into who these people are to one another as all four volley their incisive chitchat back and forth with crackling chemistry while exploring the mental cost of their couplings.

Every bit of The Invite's uproarious double-date dramedy for grown-ups plays as a hilariously nightmarish domestic conflict that threatens to burst at any moment. We are dropped into a single night over the course of a last-minute dinner party as everyone's histories and motives are carefully revealed in the tradition of a Mike Nichols filmography (think Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) with shades of vintage Woody Allen and more than likely inspired by the aftermath of Wilde's messy real-life breakup with former partner Jason Sudeikis.

The Invite screened as the closing film of the 2026 Seattle International Film Festival as part of the New American Cinema program.


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