The Invite (2026)
Director Olivia Wilde returns after the turmoil of Don't Worry Darling with the worthwhile The Invite, a remake of a Spanish film called Sentimental about a dinner party meeting between two couples that grows increasingly emotionally fraught.
Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Wilde) are a married couple with a 12-year-old daughter away on a sleepover. They are clearly at the point where accumulated disappointments and resentments have festered. It's hard to tell if they even like each other anymore, much less love each other.
Angela has invited their upstairs neighbors Pina (Penelope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton) over for dinner. Joe doesn't like them because they've awakened him many nights with their loud lovemaking and wants to confront them about this, which terrifies Angela.
The dinner progresses from awkward pleasantries to modest connections between Joe and Pina, as well as Angela and Hawk, but then awkward topics are broached and the evening ends up highlighting fractures in the relationships of both couples.
The Invite does a good job of showing how spending enough time together with anyone can lead to both parties getting sick of each other and how many people get worn down by life's disappointments and failed dreams by middle age. Yet, it admirably avoids descending into misanthropy. None of the characters are reduced to easy villains or caricatures. It's ultimately a humanist film anchored by four strong lead performances.
Character-driven dramas about
adults for adults are rare in the midst of summer blockbuster season, so give
this one a look.
