The Invite movie depicts the nuance of one flailing romantic relationship by extending the metaphor of a recently renovated and combined apartment. I love it when the form imitates the content, and The Invite really delivers.

What is The Invite about?

In summary, The Invite starts with Joe (Seth Rogen) arriving via folding bike from his unfulfilling job as a music teacher to his San Francisco home, which his long-time wife and mother of his children Angela (Olivia Wilde) has recently renovated. The construction work has taken longer (typical) than anticipated, and to thank their neighbors for their patience during the construction noise, Angela has invited Pina (Penelope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton) over to see the finished result… that night.

I should mention that their adolescent daughter is at a last-minute sleepover, and Joe has no memory of this gathering being scheduled. So, they’re out of wine, and their neighbors are arriving in ten minutes. One reason Joe does not want them to come over is because their constant sex noise in the apartment above is so loud it wakes them at night.

I should also mention that they don’t have friends—according to Angela—and this is the first chance she’s getting to 1) make new friends with their neighbors, and 2) showcase her long-term design project, which is truly pretty epic.

But what is The Invite really about?

In case I wasn’t too obvious when describing the synopsis, Joe and Angela are… not doing great as a couple. As I aforementioned, Joe doesn’t like his job, he doesn’t like the bike Angela bought him, he doesn’t want to hang out with the neighbors, he doesn’t want to do a real quick beer run to help out, and he doesn’t want to live in this apartment because it was his family’s place. He even critiques Angela’s décor (“Can we put some drapes on this window?”)… although, he is right about that one: they can all see into one another’s apartments.

Despite the work that Angela has invested in all but the first thing, his job, that is.

If it sounds like I’m on Team Angela, that’s because I am. I mean, if I have to choose between who’s correct, I choose Angela.

(SPOILERS START HERE)

But, damn, Angela is also insufferable—and I mean that will full credit to the actor and director, because she’s depicted as both incredibly capable and self-deprecating to the point of contagion.

She has an excellent eye for design, she sacked up to ask her cool neighbors over, she threw this party together in a single day, and she arranged childcare. The woman does it all. Except for communicate.

Maybe it’s me and my lack of aversion to confrontation, but my very first question when there’s a point of contention between romantic partners, both in film and in life, is this: “Did you tell them how it made you feel?”

Ten times out of nine, they did not articulate their feelings, or at least not in a way where their concerns were heard. The Invite is no exception. Lack of communication is the central problem in this film. Yes, they’re also propositioned by their hot neighbors, but that “invite” really just exacerbates the tension that already exists. But the apartment highlights that tension even more concretely.

“Would You Like the Apartment Tour?”

Not long after Pina and Hawk arrive, they compliment Angela’s hard work—especially Hawk. The dialogue is an awkward, quippy back-and-forth, but you can tell immediately how the compliment moves her: they noticed and then told her.

Courtesy of A24. Hawk (Edward Norton) compliments Angela (Olivia Wilde)’s long-term apartment renovation project in the movie The Invite.

When Angela feels seen, her demeanor changes significantly. She’s still a ball of nerves, but that acknowledgement of the beauty of her efforts sees her visibly relax, if only for a moment.

Hawk also fawns all over the just-delivered rug on their sitting room floor. He recognizes the designer. He even asks where she got it, and when she says she bought it at a flea market earlier that day, he gets so excited at her lucky find.

And he’s not faking it: he is actually interested, and that sincere interest also impacts her.

In THE INVITE movie, Hawk (Edward Norton) is enthralled by Angela (Olivia Wilde)'s flea market rug find. — Courtesy of A24.

I think it happens here, when Angela asks if they’d like to tour the apartment. Hawk says yes, and Joe says he wants to smoke a joint in his office. (Side note: such a dick move on multiple levels. Enjoy smoking indoors, you jerk.) (But seriously, Seth Rogen does such a wonderful job of endearing this character! He’s so funny and shrewd!)

In what looks like an attempt to diffuse the argument that is definitely about to pop off, Pina says, “Can I come with you?” To Joe. So they separate.

What happens in each of the rooms throughout the film, but especially on this Apartment Tour, encapsulates the whole theme of The Invite. It’s a detailed domestic microcosm that the wife has painstakingly woven and which her husband chooses not to see in light of his perceived professional (artistic) failure.

The Liminal Spaces

One very cool thing about the directing and camerawork is that they really utilize the liminal spaces of the apartment, like the hallways and thresholds.

Yes, the follow-shots of Angela bustling in and out of the kitchen with arms full of food and tearing into their bedroom to change out of a torn shirt heighten the tension, but so do the still frames. When Joe enters the apartment, takes off his shoes, and lies down in the doorway, Angela crosses in front of the camera several times while he just lies there.

Speaking of framework, when the guests first arrive, both Angela and Joe stand in the threshold of two rooms, presumably the two rooms she knocked down the wall between. Literally. And figuratively.

Courtesy of A24. In The Invite movie, Pina (Penelope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton) arrive to their neighbors’ (Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogen) apartment, only to admit they heard them fighting in the hallway before they knocked.

Although the apartment is not open-concept (yay!), we get to see into rooms from other rooms. One of my favorite shots happens during the Apartment Tour. Hawk and Angela stand in the hallway, but from the camera’s position, we see them through two different doorways. If I remember correctly, this is when Hawk asks to see their unfinished bedroom.

In The Invite movie, Angela (Olivia Wilde) stares at Joe (Seth Rogen) across their bed in front of their unpainted bedroom walls. — Courtesy of A24.

The Bedroom

It’s not as on-the-nose of a metaphor as it seems, the fact that the entire apartment is complete except for Angela and Joe’s bedroom. But it is very apt.

The reason why it’s unfinished? Angela has chosen three paint colors, painted three swatches on the wall, and wants Joe to choose between the three.

Joe says they all look the same.

How dare he say that? Even if the paint colors are similar (they are very similar), she has done all the work! She’s narrowed it down to three colors, purchased the samples, brought them home, and painted them on the wall. All he has to fucking do is pick one, and he won’t. Even Don Draper told Betty to move the lamp to the other end of the sofa!

**

Hawk and Angela are in what seems to be a deep discussion, sitting on her and Joe’s bed, when she asks Hawk, “I have to make a decision about something. And I think you can help me.” (I may have misquoted, but that’s the gist.)

The scene cuts away to Joe and Pina smoking in Joe’s office.

Joe’s Office

Joe’s office is a hot-ass mess. It’s packed with books and records and his piano that no one is allowed to touch or play since his band failed. He does not even touch the keyboard, himself. And he won’t let Hawk to play it either. His office is also the one room that Angela appears not to have renovated. Which is symbolic: she can fix everything else for him, and has, but he’s dwelling on/in the one thing he has to do for himself and “failed at.”

But back to Hawk, sitting on the bed, asking Angela whether she sees herself alone in a cool wind on the beach? (The second option, which I can’t remember.) Or. holding hands with the love of your life on a wrap-around porch rocking chair? He’s explaining the names of the colors she has painted on her wall. The joke lands, but… doesn’t it land because it’s observational humor? How does she see her life?

He then restates that no, the three colors aren’t the same at all. The two characters then actually stand in front of the paint swatches while they discuss this—which is not only a beautiful frame, but symbolic as well because, naturally, she’s in front of the lonely one, and he’s on the front porch.

The Living Room

Around halfway through the film—if that far—while they sit in the den, Pina and Hawk say they want to apologize for their own noise. It’s from their sex parties. And sometimes, when they have too many people, they have to move the action out of their bedroom and into the living room. Which is probably why they heard it in the apartment below.

The Kitchen

The moment when I thought Joe and Angela were really together happens now, when they retreat into the kitchen to gush over this reveal. It only lasts a few seconds, and then they’re back in the living room, discussing the sex parties like they’re social anthropologists.

The vibe shifts when Pina and Hawk say that, yes, they are there to extend the invite to their circle. It doesn’t have to happen tonight. But it can happen tonight.

Joe and Angela agree to a swap almost immediately. Now listen! Joe and Pina go into his office, obviously. And Angela and Hawk go to the kitchen. I am the emoji eyeballs. Read that again. The man goes into his office, and the woman goes into her kitchen.

Joe’s back goes out when he stumbles over some of his junk he won’t put away (eyeballs again), hijinks ensue, and finally the conflict comes to a head, once again in the living room.

The Invite Ending, Explained

It’s not as cliché as it could be. I mean, it’s a common enough problem that its depiction on screen is totally worthwhile even though we see it manifesting in real life constantly.

Pina (also a woman, but in a professional setting) mediates the conflict between Angela and Joe: as has been apparent throughout the film, Angela wants to be noticed. Physically, sexually, artistically, as a mother—anything. She craves not just validation, but interest. She got that from Hawk today, but Joe remains oblivious, or more accurately, obtuse. He even vindicates her feelings of unappreciation with the deliberate barb, “What do you even do all day?”

I probably don’t need to detail for you (again) all that Angela has done on this one day.

Joe says he feels worthless. By his measure, that means he’s a failure because his band didn’t make it, and now he’s teaching music at a crappy school. All things that Angela has no part in at all. He pointedly does not mention the successes of his marriage and raising by all accounts a kick-ass daughter.

Pina declares this relationship dead even though “I’m not your therapist,” and the couple retreats. Him, to his office; her, to their daughter’s bedroom.

The final scene shows Angela look up at the sound of piano keys. Across the courtyard, she can see through the window into his office, which seems to have been a part of the other apartment, now connected. She plays the piano alongside him, and they share a moment of hope—Joe has, at least, overcome this small roadblock. If he can do that, maybe they do have a chance.

My analysis makes this film sound sadder and drier than it is: The Invite undertakes this bummer subjectmatter as a comedy. It was very funny, and I suggest you see it in theaters because the laughs from the other viewers maintain the momentum.

The Invite releases nationwide in theaters July 10.

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THE INVITE Movie: The Apartment Tour Explains the Ending / Everything