The Invite hits HBO Max today - is Olivia Wilde dinner-party comedy actually worth a Friday night, or is it just awards buzz?
The Invite makes its streaming debut on HBO Max today, October 23, after a summer theatrical run. It is directed by and stars Olivia Wilde, with Seth Rogen as her husband Joe, and Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton as their upstairs neighbors Hawk and Pina. The setup is a married couple whose marriage is on thin ice inviting the free-wheeling neighbors over for dinner, and the night goes off the rails. It runs 1 hour 47 minutes, was co-written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, and it is already getting Oscar-buzz mentions in weekend streaming lists. I like awkward comedies but I do not want a slog. Is this funny-cringe in a good way, or does the dinner-party premise wear thin before the end?
2 answers
- Watch it, but not with your in-laws
Watch it. 107 minutes, no filler. Rogen spiraling at his own dinner table is the whole movie, and Cruz and Norton are so smug as the neighbors that you will want to pause just to argue about them. Skip it only if awkward comedy makes you crawl out of your skin. Otherwise this is a Friday night pick, not homework.
- The runtime and the cast carry it
The case for watching it is the cast and the length, not the buzz. It is a four-hander: Wilde and Rogen as the strained couple, Cruz and Norton as the neighbors, and almost everything happens around one dinner table. At 1 hour 47 minutes it does not overstay its welcome, and Wilde is directing her third feature after Booksmart and Dont Worry Darling, so this is a clearer test of her directing than the tabloid noise around the last one. If the first 30 minutes of dinner setup do not hook you, bail - the movie does not change gears later.