As an actress, Olivia Wilde can project fierce intellect as well as earthiness, whether she’s playing serious or silly. Those traits seem to be inherent to the woman herself and serve her well as she pursues a concurrent career as a filmmaker. She earned glowing reviews with her debut as a director, the savvy, snarky teen-girls-coming-of-age feature Booksmart, which could have been labeled a fluke or beginner’s luck after the ambitious misfire of her second stab at directing, the science fiction-tinged thriller Don’t Worry Darling. But her latest directorial effort, The Invite, is her best so far — a fearless leap and a ribald plunge into the comic maelstrom of flawed relationships.
The Invite stars Wilde, Seth Rogan, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton as two conflicted couples getting to know one another during an impromptu dinner party that goes haywire. Although this adaptation of the 2020 Spanish farce The People Upstairs is set in San Francisco and includes a few cursory exterior and interior shots, the bulk of the action happens within the confines of an apartment building located on one of the city’s more daunting hills. We first see music teacher Joe (Rogan) as he strains to pedal his bicycle up that hill after work. His exhaustion doesn’t help his mood when he gets home to the nicely-furnished flat where he lives with wife Angela (Wilde), learns that their tween daughter is at a sleepover, and is informed that uber-cool upstairs neighbors Piña (Cruz) and Hawk (Norton) are coming to dinner.
Joe is reluctant to entertain anyone since he and Angela are experiencing marital troubles. Their lack of sexual activity has become a sore point, and it’s been made worse by the frequent sound of intimacy counselor Piña and therapeutic masseur Hawk getting down and dirty in the apartment right above them. Reluctant to have his failing marriage compared to a seemingly healthy relationship, Joe is miffed that Angela has arranged a meal with the libertines. She says it’s too late to cancel. Piña and Hawk show up, and the soiree is on, despite Joe being less than gracious. The whole affair becomes increasingly contentious as the couples spar, air their grievances, and reveal secrets, leading to an unexpected turn in the story and a somewhat wrenching finale.
Using The People Upstairs as a template, co-screenwriters Will McCormack and Rashida Jones (the actor of The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Angie Tribeca fame) delivered a script that snaps with spiky dialogue, and the four actors attack their lines and one another with gusto. True to form, Rogan does a lot of the heavy lifting for laughs, and Wilde keeps up with him, especially when Angela is sniping at the slovenly, whining Joe. Cruz and Norton are properly amusing when called upon, and everyone brings the pain when things get borderline ugly and genuinely sad. Wilde’s direction keeps all of it hurtling forward with panache. Frequently funny, often insightful, and a bit nasty when merited, The Invite confirms that, given the right material, Wilde is a formidable force behind the camera — and in front of it as well.
The Invite is currently in theaters.
No sophomore slump for ‘Sugar’
It would be more than fair to say that season one of the film noir-influenced TV series Sugar upended expectations two-thirds of the way through its eight-episode run. Following the exploits of Los Angeles-based private investigator John Sugar, the show leaned into the Hollywood milieu with a mystery involving the missing granddaughter of a film producer. Sugar, played by Colin Farrell at his most suave and noble, is hired to find the girl, and as he pursues the investigation, it becomes clear that an obsession with classic cinema and no-nonsense movie detectives informs his behavior and personal style. In the process, certain aspects of Sugar’s life come to light, disclosing his unique nature and requiring a re-evaluation of what he does and why he does it. It was a truly bonkers twist that put an unexpected spin on a familiar genre, and it would be a disservice to spoil it for anyone starting to watch the series.
That first season concluded in a satisfying way while leaving the door open for more cases to be solved and a continuation of Sugar’s singular quest. Happily for those of us who embraced Sugar when it debuted, a second eight-episode season is now in progress with the P.I. chasing down the wayward brother of a young boxer on the rise. The boxer’s career could be at risk, because of his brother’s connection to a violent L.A. gang, and Sugar, who is still seeking answers to some very personal questions, has become a target for a variety of enemies, known and unknown. Laura Donnelly as a woman of intrigue, Sasha Calle as a streetwise thief, and Shea Whigham as a mortician and ally to Sugar are welcome additions to the cast. Still, this is Farrell’s show, complete with hardboiled first-person narration that should delight fans of old-school detective fiction and the sort of movies that Sugar watches and references.
New episodes of Sugar premiere Fridays on Apple TV.
