‘The Invite’ Is a Hilarious Social Nightmare, With Olivia Wilde!
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I'm Sean Fennessey.
What is The Invite and who stars in Olivia Wilde’s film?
I'm Amanda Dobbin.
And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about The Invite. Today on the show, you're invited into a deep dive into a very funny, very middle-aged Dark Knight of the Soul. The Invite is a sharp-tongued and even more sharply made four-hander dramedy starring Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Edward Norton, and Penelope Cruz. It's an old-fashioned dinner party stress test and one of the more entertaining movies of the year. I'm very happy that Olivia Wilde, who is not just the star but the director of the movie, is on the show. We talked about how she made it, why she made it, why she decided to star in it. and a lot of other things. CR is also here to deep dive into the movie with us. We'll talk about it right after this.
This episode of The Big Picture is presented by Amazon Prime. One of the best things about streaming is that you never just pick a title, you pick a feeling. And Prime makes that easy. With great entertainment and fast shipping that brings the moment to life, Prime helps you experience the feeling you're craving. Shows you can't wait for and deliveries you don't wait for. One click away. From streaming to fast shipping, it's on Prime. Okay, pure movie focus episode today. Yeah. We're only just talking about the movie itself, which we don't do as often. And thank you for inviting me to do so. You're welcome, and thank you for accepting that invitation. Oh, boy. We usually only do this kind of thing. for big movies, for big tentpole releases, your dunes, your disclosure days.
Your fjords. Yeah. Well, hopefully.
I think it will be one. And then just a lot of thought about Scandinavia. Will you be on the fjord up? You've been to Norway. I have. He's the only, you haven't been to Norway, right? Yeah. Okay. I'd like to go. Maybe we should do it from there.
Sure. Should we do the episode from there?
It did look very beautiful. I had some other notes.
It did. Yeah. Complicated culture. The invite. The reason that I thought it would be good to do this as a standalone conversation is I would say it's a very... Us-coded movie.
It's a very big pick movie.
Yes.
And some of that is because it's about old married people in a transitional and possibly unhappy phase of life. And there's also a lot of talking. And there's Edward Norton. And Penelope Cruz and Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde. It checks all of our boxes in terms of interests and also does the thing where... You know, just a lot of conversation starters, if you want to get into that.
I want you to start them today. That's why we're doing it. And, you know, the three of us, we find ourselves at a somewhat similar stage in our lives as the four characters in the movie. Whether or not we're confronting the same issues will be analyzed here. Just to put a little bit of context around the film, it is directed by Olivia Wilde, written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormick. It's based on a 2021 Spanish film. This is Olivia Wilde's third feature film. Her last was four years ago, the controversial Don't Worry Darling. It is only four people in the movie. Yeah. I guess with the exception of the class that appears that Seth Rogen is teaching in the very first or second sequence of the movie. And here's the logline.
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. Chris, since you're our guest here on the show, what did you think of the invite?
I thought it was a wonderfully made movie. I found it to be an absolutely delightful comedy. And I was thinking about it in relationship to weapons because I just had this conversation with Andy about weapons, about whether or not he felt like he liked weapons a lot. Whether or not he felt like he needed some sort of ironic distance to appreciate her. And what I really loved about the invite is that often when you have couples being vicious to one another in comic films, there needs to be something like whether it's slapstick physical comedy or almost like the threat of some kind of like violence happening or...
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:15–0:17
2
What is The Invite and who stars in Olivia Wilde’s film?
0:17–14:06
3
How does The Invite balance comedy and discomfort in its dinner‑party premise?
14:06–36:39
4
How does the movie explore middle‑aged marriage, sex and new friendships?
36:39–1:22:41
5
What plot turns and spoilers reshape our view of the characters?
1:22:41–1:35:27
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from The Big Picture
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