Joe and Angela’s marriage is on thin ice. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors for a dinner party, the night spirals into unexpected places.

Olivia Wilde’s latest film as a director is ‘The Invite’, an English language remake of a 2020 Spanish film called ‘The People Upstairs’. It is a comedy of manners set almost entirely within one couple’s apartment, where a dinner party becomes increasingly awkward as resentments and irritations come to the fore between the guests.

Wilde stars as Angela, alongside Seth Rogen as her husband Joe. They are in a marriage that has been rocky for some time and every interaction between them is charged with passive aggression, including the latest one when he comes in from work and discovers she’s invited the upstairs neighbours in for dinner and drinks. Joe is frustrated at life in general, whether it be his sexless marriage or his failed career as a musician, and he has issues with the neighbours over the loud noises coming from their apartment at night. The neighbours, Pina and Hawk, are played by Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton, and they seem like the antithesis of everything that is wrong with Angela and Joe’s marriage. They’re a relatively new couple, seem relaxed and chilled around each other, and are clearly having a lot of sex (the noises upstairs and one of the sources of Joe’s annoyance!).

From this point onwards, the film becomes an increasingly uncomfortable examination of marriage, honesty and long held frustrations, and the awkward levels are raised considerably when the conversation turns to sex. I’ll say little more about the plot other than to say it’s bold and surprising in good ways, aided largely by some sharp writing and excellent performances from all four cast members. I don’t think there’s anyone that can play exasperated as successfully as Seth Rogen does and he does a lot of that here to great effect, while Wilde is just as strong as his partner letting out her own frustrations at the rut they’ve both contributed to them finding themselves in. As for Cruz and Norton, they deliver the kind of performances you’d expect from Oscar nominated actors of their calibre.

‘The Invite’ is consistently funny, but it never loses sight of the emotional truths underneath the comedy. Joe and Angela’s problems haven’t been caused by one argument or one bad decision; they’ve built up over years of resentment, compromise and things left unsaid, to the point where they may no longer be repairable. The comedy comes from watching those frustrations finally bubble to the surface in front of their free spirited neighbours, but the film is written well enough to go for more than just laughs. I really liked ‘The Invite’, a smart comedy that gets a lot out of a simple premise, aided by its excellent cast, and I’d highly recommend it.

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Olivia Wilde

Starring: Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt14173636/