Back in 2019, Olivia Wilde made her feature debut as a director via the teen “coming of age” tale Booksmart. 2022’s Don’t Worry Darling went down a more adult path and Wilde continues that trend with 2026’s sex comedy The Invite.

Married couple Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Wilde) find their relationship in a bad place. They bicker constantly and can barely tolerate each other.

Unbeknownst to Joe, Angela invited upstairs neighbors Piña (Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton) to dinner. Because Joe resents their noisy sex, this starts out as antagonistic but takes a major twist when swingers Piña and Hawk reveal their desire to get Joe and Angela involved in some sexual experimentation.

A remake of 2020’s Spanish flick Sentimental, the project actually started life as a stage play. Given a cast of only four actors and one primary set, these roots seem obvious.

With so few characters, Invite needs a strong cast, and it gets 75 percent of the way there. With Wilde, Norton and Cruz, we find three eminently qualified actors.

And then there’s Rogen. He seems overmatched for the scope of the project.

Rogen can play goofy or angry but not much else. This means he pulls off the comedic parts of Invite and struggles with the deeper moments.

That said, Rogen doesn’t really let down the movie. While he can’t keep up with his co-stars, he works well enough that he doesn’t harm the film.

Rogen and Wilde emphasize an exaggerated comedic vibe while Cruz and Norton become more grounded. Despite the contrasting styles, all blend well.

Essentially Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf with a sexual focus, Invite does best in its first act. It emphasizes comedy as it paints the conflicts and awkwardness in a brisk and amusing manner.

Invite sputters somewhat once it gets into the sexual experimentation part of the film. Though some of this makes sense, these sequences go on too long for too little payoff.

Honestly, 107 minutes seems like too extended a running time for this story. Its tone and style would fare better at more like 90 minutes, as the tale threatens to become redundant as it goes.

Although this can make Invite drag in its second act, it still comes with enough energy to keep us with it. While the movie might not fully succeed, it remains a pretty lively look at an eventful dinner party.

The Invite appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Photographic choices made this a generally good but not great image.

Overall sharpness seemed positive but not on a consistent basis. This meant some soft shots, though most of the film brought appealing delineation.

No issues with jaggies or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt prominent but natural and the film came with some intentional print flaws that never became major.

Most of Invite opted for a definite teal tint, though some orange cropped up as well. The hues didn’t excel but they matched the film’s “indie” vibe.

Blacks appeared reasonably dense, and low-light shots brought pretty good clarity. Within the stylistic choices, the presentation worked.

A chatty character piece like The Invite wouldn’t seem like a candidate for a whiz-bang soundtrack. The film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack followed the anticipated path.

This meant a low-key soundscape that accentuate music. The score and songs showed good stereo spread across the front and some reinforcement in the rear but they didn’t do a whole lot with the soundstage.

Effects played a minor role in the proceedings. They popped up in logical places but focused on the front and became such a small part of the proceedings that they added little to the experience.

Audio quality worked fine, with speech that remained natural. Music seemed full and rich.

As noted, effects lacked much presence but they seemed accurate enough. Nothing here impressed but the mix suited this tale.

As we head to extras, we open with an audio commentary from actor/director Olivia Wilde and director of photography Adam Newport-Berra. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at cast/performances, story/characters, production design, photography, editing and music.

On the negative side, the track comes with a lot of praise, mainly because Wilde tells us everything she loves about the film. Nonetheless, we get enough insights about the production to make this a worthwhile chat.

Two featurettes follow, and Setting the Table spans 15 minutes, 28 seconds. It brings notes from Wilde, Newport-Berra, first AD Brendan Lee, costume designer Arianne Phillips, production designer Jade Healy, and actors Edward Norton, Penélope Cruz and Seth Rogen.

The reel goes over story and characters, cast, rehearsals and performances, filming in order and the tight schedule, Wilde’s work as director, shooting on film, costumes and set design. Despite a little too much happy talk, “Table” comes with some good new material.

Behind the Score goes for three minutes, 28 seconds and offers an overview of the film’s music from composer Devonté Hynes, cellist Kirin McElwain and engineer Alec Fellman in which they tell us a bit about their work. A few minor notes emerge but the reel lacks much substance.

Two Deleted Scenes appear: “Walk to Door” (1:27) and “Panic Attack” (2:04). Both offer amusing sequences but they don’t seem necessary for the end product.

Like apparently all A24 releases, this one comes with six Photo Cards that display shots from the set. They add a little value to the package.

A character-based mix of comedy and drama, The Invite benefits from a good cast. It struggles to fill its running time but it comes with enough entertainment to mostly succeed. The Blu-ray brings generally positive picture and audio along with a few bonus features. Though not a thoroughly satisfying film, Invite works the majority of the time.