The Invite

Development and writing

Olivia Wilde (left), the film's director and star, and Rashida Jones, the film's co-screenwriter

In March 2021, it was announced that a remake of the 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs (Sentimental),^[5] an adaptation of Cesc Gay's stage play Els veïns de dalt / Los vecinos de arriba,^[6] was in development from producer David Permut.^[7] The original film had also been adapted in France, Italy, Switzerland, and South Korea.^[8] In March 2022, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris were hired to direct the film, with Rashida Jones and Will McCormack set to write the screenplay.^[9] In May 2023, retitled The Invite, Amy Adams, Paul Rudd and Tessa Thompson were cast to star.^[10] Development stalled until April 2025, when it was revealed Olivia Wilde would direct a cast including Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton and herself with filming underway in Los Angeles.^[11]

The film is dedicated to Diane Keaton, who died on October 11, 2025, in a cursive written statement ("To Diane") during the end credits.^[12]

Filming

On May 21, 2025, it was reported that filming took place in San Francisco on Tuesday and Wednesday of that week,^[13] specifically at the auditorium^[5] in A.P. Giannini Middle School in the Sunset District, a BART train from Glen Park station to Balboa Park station, Make-Out Room^[14] nightclub in the Mission District,^[5] Castro District Farmers' Market,^[15] and Molinari Delicatessen.^[16] It was shot in 23 days, in chronological order.^[17] The monologue that Norton's character, Hawk, delivers in the third act regarding the origin of his character's name was written by Norton himself, with Rogen's immediate response improvised.^[18]

Music

Devonté Hynes composed the score.^[19] The first track ("Contentious Environment") was released as a digital single from the soundtrack album on June 15, 2026.^[19] The soundtrack was released digitally by A24 Music on June 26.^[20] Sade's "By Your Side" (2000) is also featured in the film.^[21][22][23]

Box office

As of July 26, 2026^[update], The Invite has grossed $19.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $12 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $31.9 million.^[3][4]

The film made $379,000 in Los Angeles and $54,000 in New York City from limited release screenings in its first weekend, all of which were sold out,^[32] becoming one of the top per-screen openings of the year.^[34]

During its first weekend in the United Kingdom, it grossed £799,382 (approximately $1.06 million) and came in third place.^[33] The United States wide expansion opened to 1,610 locations (up from 28 screens) in its third weekend, grossing over $5.7 million for a $7.38 million cume and coming in sixth place at the domestic box office.^[34]

Critical response

Left to right; top-bottom: The performances of Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton were praised by critics.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 255 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Perversely funny while giving its quartet of fine actors some of their best material yet, The Invite is a sophisticated farce that reaffirms Olivia Wilde as one of the most exciting filmmakers working today."^[35]

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[36] Audiences surveyed by PostTrak gave the film an 89% positive score, with 69% saying they would "definitely recommend" it.^[34]

Owen Gleiberman of Variety deemed the film to be "marvelously entertaining" and compared it to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?^[37] Similarly, Adam Chitwood of TheWrap compared the result to something like "the great-great-grandchild" of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, underscoring the film to be "endlessly relatable, sometimes uncomfortably so".^[38] Benjamin Lee of The Guardian rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, welcoming it as a "genuinely funny and uncommonly intelligent comedy for adults".^[39]

Kate Erbland of IndieWire gave the film a B+ rating, assessing that, a bit of stumbling in the third act notwithstanding, the rest of the film is "such a treat, a truly adult comedy with plenty to say and even more laughs to share".^[40] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter declared the film as "well worth RSVPing" in the bottom line.^[8] Glenn Garner of Deadline Hollywood wrote that the film "explores dynamics of sex and relationships with raw and endearing honesty".^[41] Tim Grierson of Screen Daily described the film as an "uneven comedy-drama that ultimately has something fresh to say about sex, love and commitment".^[42]

Bilge Ebiri of Vulture noted that the characters' "emotional twists don't feel fully earned", also pointing out that The Invite "feels at times like a film that could have benefited from more control", while giving a fully negative assessment about the use of the musical score.^[43] Warning that The Invite "is difficult to describe without causing confusion", Kyle Smith of The Wall Street Journal characterized the film as "a wild fantasy built on a foundation of painful verisimilitude", as well as one of the best films of the year, even if it is "essentially a play".^[44] Peter Bradshaw, also of The Guardian, rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, complimenting the comedy and praising Rogen as being "on top of his game".^[45]

It was named one of the "5 Greatest Comedy Movies of 2026" by Fawzia Khan of CBR, writing that it is a "comedy of errors that borrows from Polanski and Bunuel without forgetting to be genuinely funny".^[46]

Accolades