The Invite

Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Olivia Wilde) are a married couple whose relationship has quietly curdled into mutual resentment. Joe spends his days complaining about his unfulfilling job as a music teacher and his chronic back pain, while Angela occupies herself redecorating their apartment and obsessing over the audible sex life of their enigmatic upstairs neighbors. Without consulting Joe, Angela invites those neighbors—Hawk (Edward Norton) and Piña (Penélope Cruz), a sexually uninhibited and seemingly enviable couple—to a dinner party. Joe is furious about the arrangement and arrives at the evening already planning to humiliate Hawk and Piña for the erotic noise that routinely keeps him awake. Instead, the night refuses to go according to plan. The dynamics among the four shift constantly: Hawk takes a genuine interest in Angela's neglected artistic vision for the apartment, while Piña draws out a looser, more relaxed side of Joe through conversations about music. As the evening progresses it becomes clear there is a hidden reason why Hawk and Piña were really invited. Angela harbors unspoken desires around feeling desired that Joe has never registered, and the dinner surfaces those feelings directly. What initially looks like a potentially transgressive arrangement between an imperfect couple and a perfect one gradually reveals that Hawk and Piña carry their own concealed frustrations beneath the polished exterior. The film is a remake of the Spanish film The People Upstairs (directed by Cesc Gay) and was written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack. The film ultimately drops its comic energy for an earnest reckoning with whether Joe and Angela should keep trying or walk away, closing on a quiet, emotionally honest note that critics described as one of the best endings of the year. Coverage notes: the film had not yet received a wide release as of this summary (theatrical release June 25, 2026); plot details are drawn from festival reviews following its Sundance premiere on January 24, 2026, and the ending specifics are not fully disclosed in available coverage.

Sources: IMDb, Loud and Clear Reviews, Flickering Myth, Web search aggregation (Letterboxd, Bleeding Cool, GeekTyrant, Gold Derby)