When The Invite premiered at Sundance earlier this year, it landed as one of the festival’s sharpest surprises: a sex comedy with a soul, powered by four actors all operating at full voltage. (I called it an A-grade “zesty swinger comedy that’s equally hilarious and therapeutic” in my review out of the fest.) What’s most striking about it on a second pass isn’t the high-wire comedy or the swinging premise — it’s how seriously Olivia Wilde, in the director’s chair for the third time and in front of her own camera for the first, takes the inner lives of people who are quietly coming undone inside an outwardly fine marriage.
For Wilde, doing both jobs at once turned out to be less of a tightrope than the conventional wisdom suggests. “It’s definitely a challenge, but it was so fun,” she told me. “I think because the actors are so good. I also was lucky that my character herself is very much kind of resting on every word that one of these other actors says in the scene. She’s so desperate to please that she listens and kind of observes every single moment of what they’re doing.”
That choice – playing a character whose whole emotional life is reactive within the film – turned out to be the thing that made directing-while-acting so natural. “In a way, what would have been a challenge is if I was playing someone kind of aloof and not really plugged in,” she said. “But because the character herself was so locked in to how everyone was feeling and what they were saying, it made me, as the director, able to kind of be locked in in the way that I needed to.” There was inherent symbiosis in the actor-director relationship then: “Good acting is good listening, and good directing is also good listening. So in a way, in this experience, those two processes overlapped in a way that was just fun.”
One of the things The Invite gets most right is its refusal to treat ethical non-monogamy as a punchline. The film is curious about it, and sincere about it, in a way that vanishingly few comedies on the subject ever dare to be. I asked Wilde how the film understood that lifestyle and finding the humanity behind it and she pointed straight to the source: “Our consultant on the film is Esther Perel, and she is really the godmother of this conversation when it comes to topics like ethical non-monogamy, but also just relationships and the quest to kind of maintain curiosity, aliveness, eroticism within long-term relationships,” Wilde said. “She really is a sociologist and an anthropologist as well as a psychotherapist. And we drew from her knowledge in a profound way. Really, the film is a real nod to her work.”
That influence can be felt throughout the film, particularly in how it frames Joe and Angela’s stagnation against Hawk and Pina’s apparent vitality. “I learned a lot from studying her books and also her TED Talks, which I recommend to anybody and everybody,” Wilde said. “It’s the kind of material you want everybody to consume because it just forces you to ask yourself, are you making choices in your relationship or are you sort of settled into a rhythm? Are you guys actually connected? Do you know each other or are you just sort of playing a part?”
Between Penélope Cruz, Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Wilde herself, The Invite features some of the best ensemble work of the year – a foursome so locked-in that the film’s biggest laughs and biggest emotional landings often arrive in the same scene. I asked Wilde whether she’d always envisioned herself in the cast. “No way,” she said. “I never would have suggested myself for this role ever. Probably because I would have been too intimidated to work with these people who are some of my favorite actors. I just don’t think I ever would have considered it.”
The push came from the cast itself. “It was really because they asked me to. They, being the actors, said we want you to kind of complete this foursome and jump in and do it with us. And it was only with their kind of support and encouragement that I felt like I could do it.” That reluctance gave way to something she didn’t expect. “I loved acting in this movie, and it was definitely the most fun I’ve ever had, but I never would have thought that I could do it. And so the whole thing’s been like a real discovery for me.”
That harmony is apparent on screen. Wilde’s nervy, anxiety-wracked Angela is one of the year’s best performances, and the fact that she’s directing the scene she’s drowning in only makes the achievement more impressive. Pulling off a great turn behind the camera while delivering one of the year’s best performances in front of it is a wild achievement, and Wilde makes it look effortless.
‘The Invite’ will open nationwide on June 26.
For more reviews, interviews, and featured articles, be sure to:
Follow Silver Screen Riot on Letterboxd
Follow Silver Screen Riot on Facebook
Follow Silver Screen Riot on Twitter
Follow Silver Screen Riot on BlueSky
Follow Silver Screen Riot on Substack
-
By: Matt Oakes
Started blogging about film in college when the university paper wouldn’t have him. Dislikes your consensus film Twitter favorites. Devotee of horror movies that make him die a little inside. Catches films at festivals when he can. Proud SFCS and OFCS member and Tomatometer-approved critic. Editor-in-chief of Silver Screen Riot.
-
-
‘THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD’ Is a Lyrical Meditation on the Myth of Violent Heroes
Delightfully Prescient ‘TOY STORY 5’ Dazzles, Charms, and Breaks Your Heart
‘LEVITICUS’ Is Australia’s Queer Riff on ‘It Follows’
Steven Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day’ Is a Surprisingly Baffling Sci-Fi Misfire
Tribeca ’26: ‘SUMMER WAR’ Is an Intriguing Descent Into Obsession
