One of our biggest bummers from Sundance this year was missing out on Olivia Wilde’s The Invite, about a dinner party that goes horribly for the four assembled guests — Wilde, Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penelope Cruz. We love comedies of manners, and we love them even more when A24 acquires them for distribution, simply because it means we don’t have to send out a billion emails to publicists trying to figure out where exactly something landed after a festival. A24’s gearing up to put this one on as many screens as it can get (especially after The Drama did so well this past weekend), so they dropped the first trailer for the film on Tuesday.
Peep it:
Here’s a synopsis (and tasting notes) for The Invite from this year’s Sundance program:
“Joe and Angela are on thin ice, and tonight might be when it all falls apart. Unfortunately, their upstairs neighbors are about to arrive for dinner, and everything that can go wrong goes worse.
A fiercely energized chamber dramedy, ‘The Invite’ revitalizes the classic, largely bygone cinema of marital strife. Olivia Wilde’s scenes from a marriage are suitably raw and revealing, but also compassionate, deeply human, and incredibly funny. From a screenplay by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, the film gleefully plunges two couples (Wilde and Seth Rogen; Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton) into the crucible of a seemingly innocuous evening, delighting in its contortions as awkward small talk turns to the unearthing of long-tenured grievances, insecurities, codependencies, failed aspirations, and sexual FOMO. Constructing a vibrant aesthetic and brilliantly orchestrated interactions, Wilde finds a universe of space within one location, and her process — workshopping material with the cast, shooting chronologically (on 35mm!), and inviting them to explore as they worked — gives ‘The Invite’ a remarkable authenticity.”
The Invite hits theaters on June 26, but if you’re a Boston local who isn’t holding a grudge against A24 for the dumbest reasons imaginable, you can catch The Invite at this year’s IFFBoston in just a few weeks. It’s this year’s closing night film and Wilde will be in attendance. It’s an event! Come to it!