The Invite Review: Olivia Wilde’s Foursome Is an Expertly Crafted, Bitingly Hilarious Game of Marital Jenga

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Living in a city often means hearing your neighbors, and sometimes that includes intimate moments. This can lead to comparisons in your own mind – you might start wondering about your own experiences and if things have changed in your relationship. It’s easy to imagine others are having better experiences when all you have to go on is what you hear, but that’s not always the reality.

If your marriage is already falling apart, like the one between Joe and Angela, and you and your partner haven’t been intimate for a long time – perhaps a year or more – even the idea of sex can feel unsettling. It might feel like a cruel joke, or even be the thing that finally ends the relationship.

Based on the Spanish film The People Upstairs, The Invite is a captivating and darkly humorous romantic drama, reminiscent of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. While the talented cast was always expected to deliver, it’s Wilde’s sharp and precise direction that truly stands out. The film feels like a tense game of Jenga, where the four characters represent the precarious top layer, balanced over a foundation of resentment and deception.

This film is potentially the funniest movie at Sundance, and it offers a remarkably honest look at marriage and intimacy. When it’s at its peak, it feels like a classic Neil Simon play or one of John Cassavetes’ spontaneous, lively films. It’s consistently captivating and manages to be both predictable and unexpected – a rare feat for any movie. The story centers around Joe, a California community college music teacher, who arrives home to a bizarre surprise: his wife has gone to extreme lengths preparing for a double date he didn’t even know about.

The scene features a lavish spread of food, a beautiful new rug, and Angela sporting a new outfit. However, Joe stubbornly claims there was never any plan, sparking a rapidly intensifying argument filled with over-the-top insults and hurtful comments. Joe is annoyed by the sounds of intimacy, while Angela seems to enjoy them, and he threatens to discuss it during dinner. The explosive fight is interrupted, though only temporarily, by the arrival of Hawk and Pina (played by Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz).

The couple living upstairs seems to have everything Joe and his partner lack: they’re patient, playful, and polite with each other. They’re also very openly affectionate. Joe often wonders if Hawk is intentionally making suggestive jokes, or if it just seems that way because he’s sensitive to it. Despite this, the evening goes on, and the upstairs couple’s happiness only makes things harder for the hosts, who are already struggling to communicate with each other.

Wilde uses clever visual techniques – like reflections and framing characters just out of view – to create a unique and unsettling atmosphere. Combined with a haunting score by Devonté Hynes (Blood Orange), the film builds intense tension as secrets come out and hurtful words are exchanged. This combination of direction and music makes the story even more impactful. Characters constantly connect and disconnect, and the film’s setting, an apartment, feels strangely both vast and claustrophobic.

As the characters learn more about their upstairs neighbors and hosts, their personal issues, longings, and struggles become increasingly intense. Joe feels particularly challenged by Hawk, especially when he discovers Hawk used to be a firefighter – it feels like a blow to his own masculinity. Adding to the complexity, their host, Pina, is a therapist specializing in both psychology and sexual health, creating a feeling that their privacy is completely invaded – almost as if someone is listening to their every conversation.

Joe and Angela’s evening spirals in a repeating cycle of connection and disconnection, mirroring the ebb and flow of their conversation, wine, and cigarettes. Though the night feels disastrous, the film handles the fallout with grace and tenderness, highlighted by a particularly strong performance from Wilde. It acknowledges the beautiful and difficult sides of marriage, often existing simultaneously. What truly sets The Invite apart is its raw honesty, even when facing inevitable heartbreak. It’s a layered and emotionally resonant film that earns its impact, hitting every emotional beat with precision.

The Invite screened at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.

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2026-01-26 17:58