The Trailer for “The Invite” Debuts: Olivia Wilde and A24 Host a Delightfully Uncomfortable Dinner Party
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Olivia Wilde not only directed the film but also stars in this successful Sundance entry alongside Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penélope Cruz.
Go ahead and RSVP “yes” to this invitation. Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite,” a delightfully uncomfortable and surprisingly raucous film, became the talk of the town earlier this year during its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and is now on its way to audiences who have been eagerly anticipating it.
In the film, Wilde herself appears alongside Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penélope Cruz in a comedy of manners that never loses its momentum (and never lets that energy get in the way of delivering outstanding performances). Set in San Francisco, Wilde and Rogen play Jo and Angela, a long-married couple (and perhaps long-suffering?), who invite their charming new neighbors, Hock and Pina (Norton and Cruz), over for a dinner party—one that spirals wildly (and hilariously) out of control.
During the festival, I praised Wilde’s work as both director and star, writing in my review: “She knows exactly what she’s doing; she knows how to balance big laughs with broken hearts, how to get the most out of her cast, and how to surprise her audience at every turn.” The film is built around “a hellish, gripping, and wildly entertaining dinner party” and never disappoints as it moves in multiple directions—both predictable and unexpected.
This marks Wilde’s third feature as a director (following “Booksmart” and “Don’t Worry Darling”) and is based on a screenplay by the duo Rashida Jones and Will McCormack (“Celeste and Jesse Forever”), adapted from the popular Spanish-language play and film “Sentimental.” The project arrived at Sundance as the number one acquisition target for distributors and lived up to the hype, sparking the first all-night bidding war at Sundance in years, with A24 ultimately winning the deal.
Speaking at a key Sundance conversation about her creative process and the film’s success outside the studio system, Wilde told IndieWire: “I think it proves every time that films made outside the system—and therefore free to experiment creatively—are always the ones studios eventually recognize as valuable, because they are exactly the films audiences want, and we see this happen every year.”
Working outside traditional constraints also allowed Wilde, the cast, and the crew the time and space to truly experiment during rehearsals. Edward Norton said in a festival interview with IndieWire: “Our rehearsals weren’t just rehearsals—they were like an infusion of spirit. Olivia was drawing out of the four of us who these people really were, what our version of them would be. It’s very unusual to be invited to create the chemistry of your characters… I think for some directors, that would be a nightmare.”
The result? Already one of the best films of the year.
A24 will release “The Invite” in select theaters on Friday, June 26.
