THE INVITE (2026)

There are no worst words uttered by one’s partner after cycling home uphill with a bad back after a fruitless day at work than, “we’re having company”. It sets the tone for a possible bad time, but for those of us not living this fury, it’s a good film. In fact, in our opinion, it’s Olivia Wilde’s best so far. Her directorial debut Booksmart (2019) did a nice job of displaying the awkward teen experience from the female perspective, but we had to think really hard to recall anything memorable beyond the parents’ (Lisa Kudrow and Will Forte) desperate liberalness and the animated Barbie dolls hallucination scene. So not a classic for us, but good for Wilde. Sophomore slump Don’t Worry Darling (2022) was ambitious and though we loved that it was weird, it felt like watching a smoothie of ideas. Misogyny, incels and the idealized past are blended together in the hopes that one’s blown away by, well, one’s own confusion? It’s a bit of a mess, but damn it looked good especially with Florence Pugh holding it down like she does. Which brings us to The Invite (2026). We won’t spoil it as half the fun is living the hell and heaven and hell that it is through the eyes of our favourite stoner at his most cranky: Seth Rogan, who is nothing but depressed and sour and well, married. His wife (Wilde) drops a bombshell that their very loud and sexy neighbours (Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton) are due any minute for a soirée. So, what we have is a flailing, long-time pair and a fresh and aggressively passionate couple talking and noshing on cheese and jamón. It’s great, if you like this kind of thing, which really depends on your appreciation for slice of life films that take place in real time, in one tasteful and timeless apartment and meanders close to the painful and can’t-look-away martial mess, black comedy-drama film adaptation of the 1962 Edward Albee play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966). Our one tiny grievance is Wilde’s casting of herself here. Don’t get us wrong, we believed her punchy take as a long-suffering partner to a hurtful and insecure Rogan. We just never believed them as a once loving pair. Not in the sense as one of those relationships clearly on the brink, but from the perspective of there’s smoke and zero fire. We get that they are to have reached the apathy stage, but at times they are somewhat friendly with each other, and friends, even resentful ones, have some traces of past sparks, dull as they may be. It’s a minor gripe and barely distracts us from the delightful pain of watching these four personalities collide. It’s harsh. It may inspire difficult conversations and even bring some couples closer together, for the ones at least who must agree, once and for all, that impromptu weeknight get-togethers are a relationship dealbreaker.