The Invite is a hilarious comedy about a marriage hanging by a thread. One night, Joe and Angela (Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde) invite their neighbors Hawk and Piña, played by Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz. Just as Joe is about to complain about the noisy sex coming through the walls, the plot shifts tone into a hilarious comedy where stories, confessions and even back injuries happen.
The magic of this film is how it tackles the weight of couples who simply cannot connect with each other. I felt Piña and Hawk were almost heavenly creatures, arriving to shift Joe and Angela's attitudes before slipping away unnoticed. The moment they leave the apartment reminded me of A Christmas Carol. Piña seems to descend from somewhere above, fluent in psychotherapy and in sex. Hawk, meanwhile, is a converted man. He worked through the wreckage of his last marriage and came out reborn, and he all but acknowledges that path of freedom when he watches Piña show off her tattoos to Joe in his office.
The film's real theme is connection, and intimacy. Angela is thick with anxiety; she cannot imagine an evening going right without the wine, or without her soufflé making an appearance when the guests bring flan instead. We even see Angela lie about having arranged that night's dinner that very same day, while telling her husband they had agreed on it the day before. Joe, for his part, can't get past the musician he never became, so hurt by it that he can't even bring himself to play the piano in the apartment where he grew up. Joe also explodes constantly, making a big deal out of every disagreement with his wife.
I loved the symbolism throughout. Angela gives Joe a bike with tiny wheels, and he can barely get anywhere on it, which says plenty about where he's stuck. Angela wants to be appreciated for her choices in interior design, like a marvelous rug she picked out or the colors she carefully chose for her bathroom. She also has a casually exhibitionist streak, passing by naked for Hawk to see.
I found the ending tender. Joe and Angela's marriage comes to an end in a way that lets them begin a new one. Piña even suggests that a bad, toxic relationship can end and a new one can start with the very same person. Fittingly, they end up in sync for the first time, playing the same song on the piano together. What a wonderful surprise of a movie. One of the most memorable of 2026.