The Invite

Screened on HBO

The Invite is one of those films I was eagerly awaiting its release, only to not see it in the theater at all, despite dozens upon dozens of opportunities. Perhaps my gut was telling me I'd be disappointed. Though I wouldn't say I was that disappointed, but the hype on this was that it was something great. Though Olivia Wilde's last film in the director's chair, Don't Worry Darling, was not nearly well-received, I enjoyed that one quite a bit (perhaps my Palm Springs bias kicking in), as well as her first film, Booksmart. So, the buzz had me excited on this one.

Overall it's a good film, but nothing all that special really. In many ways it felt like it was channeling her inner Woody Allen, which would normally be a huge selling point for me, but whether that was the scale to compare it on or not, it didn't accomplish that, nor did it accomplish anything that would be called memorable. It's a fine watch, and flies by much faster than I expected for whatever reason with its 1 hour and 45 minute running time. I also really enjoyed Penelope Cruz's performance because she is, well, as magnetic as ever. I'm also a huge fan of Seth Rogen in pretty much everything he does, but he was just fine here. Same for Wilde herself, and Edward Norton I suppose, but I wasn't vibing much with his casting.

Clearly the aim here was to say something profound, on relationships, and not retreating from thoughts and ideas on how to spice things up, but this subject matter has been covered numerous times before. Wanting and delivering something new and exciting are two very different things, and the way this film plays out, it seems a fair amount of its creators may be projecting their lack of fulfillment onto their audience.

It's a fine, pleasant watch, but are you missing out on on trying something new here? I'm not convinced.