Details

A seemingly innocent dinner between neighbours becomes considerably more revealing than anyone anticipated in The Invite, Olivia Wilde's sharp relationship comedy coming to Blu-ray and DVD this October.

Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Olivia Wilde) have been married long enough for the excitement to have disappeared from their relationship. Their marriage isn't quite over, but years of routine, resentment and unspoken frustrations have left the couple increasingly disconnected from one another.

Joe, a weary music professor, appears resigned to their comfortable but passionless existence, while Angela is considerably less willing to accept that this is simply what their relationship has become.

Then there are their upstairs neighbours.

Piña (Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton) appear to represent everything Joe and Angela are not. Attractive, confident and apparently uninhibited, their relationship seems spontaneous and sexually adventurous - something Angela has become increasingly aware of thanks to the sounds regularly travelling through the ceiling of their apartment.

So Angela invites them to dinner.

What begins with expensive cheese and slightly awkward conversation gradually develops into a revealing evening for both couples. As the wine flows and inhibitions disappear, apparently casual conversations about relationships, sex and fidelity begin exposing the insecurities and frustrations hiding beneath the surface.

Joe is uncomfortable with their guests' openness, Angela becomes increasingly fascinated by their unconventional marriage, and Piña and Hawk prove more than willing to challenge their hosts' assumptions about what a happy relationship is supposed to look like.

But appearances can be deceptive.

As the boundaries between the two couples begin to blur, the evening forces all four to confront uncomfortable questions about attraction, jealousy, monogamy and whether the relationships they have built are actually making them happy.

Directed by Olivia Wilde, *The Invite* brings together Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton for an intimate comedy-drama largely driven by the chemistry and shifting dynamics between its four central characters.

The film is adapted from Cesc Gay's acclaimed 2020 Spanish comedy The People Upstairs (Sentimental), with Rashida Jones and Will McCormack - the writing team behind Celeste and Jesse Forever - reworking the story for its new San Francisco setting. Rather than simply opening the original story out into a conventional romantic comedy, Wilde retains its intimate chamber-piece structure, allowing an apparently ordinary dinner party to become an increasingly uncomfortable examination of two very different marriages.

Shot on 35mm by cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra, whose recent credits include The Studio, the film also features an original score from Devonté Hynes, better known as Blood Orange.

Following its UK cinema release earlier this year, the 107-minute The Invite will be released on Blu-ray and DVD 5th October 2026 by Black Bear.