Welcome back Woody Allen-like romantic comedy with enough screwball dialogue to challenge Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell as we throw in Neal Simon and Mike Nichols. The screwball is fully satisfactory as it is relevant to a modern audience used to filmmakers mixing up meaning and emotions more complex than the best of ‘30’s and ‘40’scomedies.
A youngish couple Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Olivia Wilde) prepare to receive new couple from upstairs Hawk (Edward Norton) and Pina (Penelope Cruz). While Rogen plans to complain to them the noise of their lovemaking, the topic races to the central idea of the liberating nature of sex and the character revelations that come from facing head on attitudes toward it.
As in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, the night evolves from banter to trenchant analyses of attitudes that may keep Joe and Angela from a fulfilling marriage. Meanwhile Hawk and Pina have a good old time enjoying keeping their new friends off balance, especially when the invite them for group sex.
The evening implodes of course when they try out this group idea, with which Hawk and Pina are experienced. Although things look promising, we shouldn’t expect Joe to be able to follow through given his failures at folding up a bike, buying wine, succeeding at music, and living in his inherited apartment. While Angela is a non-starter with her art degree, it’s Joe who gets the most blame for failures.
Because the film opens with a jazz version of Isn’t it Romantic, Wilde’s direction into irony is well received and fulfilled throughout. Given that Hawk and Pina are polar opposites of their hosts, the film has a balance both instructive and intellectually satisfying despite the randy premise that addresses horniness in the least and happy relationships at the best.
Rarely has sex taken such a minor place next to probing analysis of what it means as couples to be satisfied with the status quo. Seeing The Invite will please any audience’s desire for crackling dialogue and probing sociology accompanied by laughter.
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts NPR’s It’s Movie Time and Cinema Classics as well as podcasts Back Talk and Double Take (recently listed by Feedspot as two of the ten best NPR Movie Podcasts) out of WCBE 90.5 FM, Columbus, Ohio.Contact him at JohnDeSando52@gmail.com