The Invite

By Joanna Langfield

See this with someone you love.

Or one you lust after.

Olivia Wilde’s potent comedy, drawn from Sentimental, a Spanish stage play and film, is sure to get you laughing as much as wondering, what would happen if that mysteriously sexy twosome from upstairs showed up for an evening?

Wilde and Seth Rogen play the relatably awkward couple who, taking advantage of their 12 year old’s sleepover at a friend’s, invite the far more alluring neighbors to dinner. Angela is a nervous wreck, frantically decorating and scouring recipes she hopes will impress. Joe, perpetually exhausted after a day teaching, shleps home, begging her to cancel. But Hawk and Pina knock on the door and we’re off to the races. Races that take us places we might not expect, but just may secretly wish for.

Rogen continues to impress with yet another performance that strips away the layers with a most likeable and sympathetic understanding. But it’s Penelope Cruz, as the steamy Pina, and Edward Norton, whose Hawk slow burns his way throughout, that command everybody’s attention. They are dynamite. As is Wilde’s smartly paced direction, as sophisticated as Will McCormack’s and Rashida Jones’s adapted screenplay.

This is what is too rare a find these days: an adult comedy. It is smart, compassionate and often laugh out loud funny. Leave the kids at home and enjoy. And plan on some interesting conversations on the way home.