The Invite is a dark comedy/drama following an embittered married couple who host an explosive dinner party for their sexually liberated upstairs neighbors. Joe, a cynical and weary band teacher and Angela, a high-strung, controlling wife trapped in a domestic rut, live in a San Francisco apartment with their daughter Maggie(away at the time). The neighbours- Pina, an European psychotherapist/sexologist and Hawk, bohemian extrovert.
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Joe is furious about the loud, disruptive sex noises coming from upstairs, while Angela, desperate for social stimulation and infatuated with the neighbors, secretly invites them over for dinner behind Joe’s back. Pina and Hawk arrive already overheard Joe and Angela fighting at the door, Haw cheerfully admits saying “we love contention”.
When Joe prepares to confront the about the noise, Pina and Hawk gently apologize, explaining to him the sound stems from hosting wild orgies and sex-positive gatherings. Secrets pour out, revealing that Angela has occasionally watched Hawk from their windows naked while Joe has ogled Pina, Pina diagnoses Joe and Angela’s marriage as a dead, joyless cycle of control and withdrawal.
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Pina and Hawk drop an unexpected bombshell, explicitly inviting Joe and Angela to participate in a partner swap or group foursome, the proposition causes immediate physical and emotional strain. Joe hurts his back dancing with Pina and an intense bitter argument breaks out, forcing Joe and Angela to confess deep-seated resentments including that they have not been intimate in a year. Pina advises the couple that staying together miserably for their daughter is pointless and that they separate, Joe and Angela seemingly agree, when they return from the kitchen, Pina and Hawk have quietly vanished.
Left alone in the apartment, Joe heads to his office and begins playing his piano-an instrument he had stubbornly abandoned and Angela eventually joins him in the room, offering an ambiguous, quiet note of closure that hints at either a clean break or the foundational spark of new, honest beginning.
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Directed by: Olivia Wilde
Cast: Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penelope Cruz, Edward Norton
Running time: 107 minutes
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