{"id":33702,"date":"2026-07-02T22:10:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T05:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=33702"},"modified":"2026-07-02T22:10:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T05:10:41","slug":"the-invite-isnt-a-perfect-bash-but-is-still-well-worth-attending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=33702","title":{"rendered":"THE INVITE Isn\u2019t a Perfect Bash, but is Still Well-Worth Attending"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 107 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from A24 opens exclusively in major markets on June 26th<\/sup>, and is now expanding nationwide.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attending an awkward dinner party with a sparse number of\nguests whom one barely knows can certainly be uncomfortable. But the new film The\nInvite<\/em> certainly ratchets that tension up to new heights. It\u2019s a movie\nthat, once the get-together begins, never leaves its apartment setting,\nfocusing on its uncomfortable characters talking about unforeseen subjects as\nthe evening progresses. Like most parties, there are social missteps here and\nthere, and you certainly wouldn\u2019t want your children attending this event. But\nthe final result should amuse adults in the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Olivia Wilde) are bickering\nparents who, although they don\u2019t seem to realize it, are in serious need of\ntherapy. After a dreary day of teaching, Joe returns home. Their daughter is\nout for the evening, and Joe learns that Angela is setting up for a small party\nwith neighbors Pina (Pen\u00e9lope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton). The husband is\nannoyed by the last-minute announcement, which his wife states was relayed to\nhim much earlier. They argue about the arrangement, and Joe threatens to\nconfront guests Pina and Hawk about their raucous lovemaking sessions, which\ncan be heard in their residence. When the neighbors do arrive, the evening\nstarts off uneasily. Eventually, the characters open up, with Pina and Hawk\ntaking the conversation in a very unexpected direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is actually a remake of a 2020 Spanish film The\nPeople Upstairs<\/em>, is entirely dialogue-based, and consists almost entirely\nof a series of conversations within one space. The story holds on the main\ncharacters squabbling and trying to push their issues with each other down. But\nJoe and Angela are clearly struggling, and are to some degree jealous and\nenvious of their neighbors. And as the group chat, Joe\u2019s and Angela\u2019s issues\nwith one another slowly bubble to the surface in an unwieldy manner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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None of this works without a capable cast, and the one\nassembled here is exceptional. The constant squabbles could have grown tiresome\n(and almost do at a few points in the story) but there are enough uncomfortable\nlaughs between Joe and Angela, as well as during their interactions with Pina\nand Hawk, to keep events interesting. Wilde keeps up the tension as the\nstressed Angela, and as expected, Rogen maximizes his role as the curmudgeon of\nthe evening. He entertainingly mutters under his breath, quietly threatening to\naddress his grievances, before being stopped by his partner in amusing ways.\nJoe\u2019s reactions and inquisitiveness after learning secrets about Pina and Hawk\nresult in the film\u2019s biggest chuckles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, of course, Cruz and Norton are wonderful in their more\nsubdued roles. They do initially come across as charming, but towards the final\nact one does see that not everything is perfect in their relationship. In fact,\nthere is a degree of fraudulence to their behavior and their personal histories\nthat comes to light. For this audience member, it made them question their\nauthenticity, even after opening up about themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Not everything here is perfect. The movie does play with\nideas like voyeurism visually, but in a blunt manner. It brings up the subject\nand later cuts to shots of the cast getting into heated discussions with the\ncamera outside of a window. One understands the point of the image, with the\naudience also taking part in the activity, but it\u2019s a little too obvious in its\ndelivery. And the characters become overly earnest by the close. The film wants\nto give viewers a sense of hope for the future between some of the participants\n(the final scene wouldn\u2019t be there if it wasn\u2019t), yet it isn\u2019t quite as moving\nas it could be because of the consistent nastiness that precedes it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, this comedy delivers dark laughs as it deals with a\ntroubled relationship going off of the rails in a variety of expected and\nunexpected ways. It brings up alternative life choices that may result in some\nlighthearted conversations between viewers after the credits. And the cast is\nfantastic. So, while you probably wouldn\u2019t want to spend an extended period of\ntime with the movie\u2019s characters, The Invite<\/em> is still worth accepting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 107 minutes This feature from A24 opens exclusively in major markets on June 26th, and is now expanding nationwide. Attending an awkward dinner party with a sparse number of guests whom one barely knows can certainly be uncomfortable. But the new film The Invite certainly ratchets that tension up to new heights. It\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":33706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[217,605,4660,6743,15349,15895,18073,21140,21141,21142,21143],"class_list":["post-33702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-217","tag-a24","tag-comedy","tag-edward-norton","tag-olivia-wilde","tag-penelope-cruz","tag-seth-rogen","tag-the-invite","tag-the-invite-film-review","tag-the-invite-movie-review","tag-the-invite-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33702\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}