If you love good movies, great performances, and awkward situations, I have great news: The Invite is now streaming on HBO Max, free to anyone with an HBO Max subscription.
The Invite is Olivia Wilde’s third film as a director, following 2019’s Booksmart and 2022’s Don’t Worry Darling. The screenplay was co-written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, and is an English-language remake of the 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs from filmmaker Cesc Gay.
In addition to directing, Wilde stars in the film as a lonely stay-at-home wife named Angela. Angela’s husband Joe (Seth Rogen) is not pleased to come home after work one day, and discover that his wife has invited their mysterious, sexually liberated upstairs neighbors, Pína (Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton), over for dinner. But how else is Angela supposed to make friends? Angela and Joe’s marriage was already on thin ice before, and this dinner is about to hit that ice with a sledgehammer.
The Oscar buzz is already buzzing for Wilde for The Invite, so you definitely don’t want to miss out. But after you watch, you might find yourself a little confused, as The Invite ending is ambiguous. Don’t worry, Decider is here to help. Read on for a break down of the The Invite movie plot summary and The Invite movie ending explained.
The Invite movie plot summary:
The movie opens with an Oscar Wilde quote: “One should always be in love, that is the reason one should never marry.” We hear the sounds of a man and a woman laughing, as the man tries to teach the woman how to play a duet on the piano.
We soon meet Joe (Seth Rogen) is a former-musician-turned-band-teacher who hates his life. He comes home to his apartment in San Francisco, where his stay-at-home wife Angela (Olivia Wilde) is busy prepping for a dinner party. The couple’s daughter, Maggie, is away that night. Joe is tired and his back hurts and he had no idea they were having a dinner party tonight. Angela insists that, yes, she told him about this, she invited their upstairs neighbors, a couple, to come over for dinner.
Oh, the neighbors that have constant loud sex and keep them up at night? Great, Joe says, he’s going to confront them about it. Angela begs Joe not to do that. She is desperate to make a good impression on the neighbors, and wants to show of the renovations that she’s done on the apartment. Joe and Angela start bitterly arguing, and when their fight reaches a fever pitch, screaming at each other, that is, of course, when the door bell rings.
The upstairs neighbors are Pina (Penelope Cruz), recently divorced, and Hawk (Edward Norton), recently widowed. They’ve only been together a short time, but seem deeply in love and sexually free. Right away, Hawk makes things awkward by informing Joe and Angela that he and Pina heard them fighting. He also frankly asks them if they are rich, as he admires their apartment. Angela is so grateful to have someone acknowledge her hard work that she tears up. (Joe, previously, scoffed and condescended to Angela for wasting money on things like rugs.)
Things do not go well, at first. Angela is mortified when Pina reveals she neither eats meat nor cheese nor sugar, which is basically the only food Angela prepared. Joe, despite Angela’s attempts to cut him off, does eventually confront Hawk and Pina about their loud sex. However, rather than being offended, Hawk and Pina are impressed by Joe’s honesty. It doesn’t hurt that Pina is a sex therapist, and very open to speaking about sex. With the help of some alcohol, the couples warm up to each other, and frankly discuss the wild sex lives of Hawk and Pina, who regularly host sex parties.
Angela and Joe both get excited about the idea of either swinging with, or having group sex with Hawk and Pina. For the first time all night, Angela and Joe are a united front. They both agree, they want to do this. But that united front fractures when Hawk reveals that Angela purposefully walks in front of her window naked, to allow Hawk to peep on her. But Joe is back on board when he realizes Hawk and Pina came over her to invite them to a sex party, and wanted to include him, Joe, in the group sex.
Pina suggests they break off into separate couples, because she doesn’t trust Angela and Joe’s toxic energy together. So, Angela goes off with Hawk, and Joe goes off with Pina. Spoiler alert: No one ends up having sex. Angela is nervous, and has no idea what she likes. Joe and Pina have a nice time laughing and getting high together, but then Joe, nervous, falls and hurts his back. His screams of pain end the sexy times, to Angela’s disappointment and mortification.
Angela screams at Joe that his back ruins everything in their life, and Joe screams back that he’s sorry his pain is such an inconvenience. Joe lashes out at Hawk, berating him for his name. In response, Hawk tells a heartbreaking story about choosing the name “Hawk” for himself following the death of his wife. After Hawk tells the story, Joe makes an inconsiderate, snide comment. Angela, Pina, and Hawk all gang up on Joe.
But while they do this, Hawk corrects Pina’s English. Pina explodes at Hawk for condescending to her. Huh! I guess the perfect couple isn’t so perfect!
The Invite movie ending explained:
After Pina discovers Joe and Angela have not had sex in a year, she uses her therapist skills and sits them down to have a frank talk about their relationship. Angela reveals they weren’t always miserable, and in fact used to be best friends with an active sex life. But then, Angela tells Joe, “You decided to be miserable.”
Angela blames Joe for the reason she gave up her career as an artist, to be a stay-at-home mom for their 12-year-old daughter. She’s sick of Joe pushing his misery on the film, that he doesn’t do anything he loves any more, like play the piano. Instead, no one is allowed to touch the piano.
Joe is hurt and angry that Angela doesn’t understand his pain at being a failure. He argues that Angela is the only reason she isn’t doing what she wants, and berates her for “going crazy” by decorating the apartment all day. He accuses her of trying to control every aspect of his life—like not letting him get a cat!
When Pina asks why Angela and Joe are still together, they both reply the reason is their daughter, Maggie. Is that really a good reason, though? Pina points out that Maggie no doubt senses her parents are miserable, and that it would be better to have two happy parents who are separated than two miserable parents together.
Finally, Pina concludes that the relationship between Angela and Joe is over. She says if they want, they can start a new relationship with each other. But the relationship, as it is now, is over. Angela and Joe both nod in agreement.
Pina and Hawk clear out. Angela and Joe awkwardly discuss logistics, like where Joe will sleep tonight (his office) and what they will do about their trip to Tahoe (figure it out). Joe goes into his office, and for the first time in many years, he plays the piano. Eventually, Angela joins him, and they play the duet we heard them playing in the beginning of the movie, back when they were happy. They finish playing the song. Angela puts her head on Joe’s shoulder, and he rests his head against her. With that, the movie ends.
Do Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogen break up at the end of The Invite?
While it’s not explicit whether Joe and Angela will decide to end their marriage at the end of The Invite, we do know that their relationship is going to change somehow. Like Pina said, “This relationship is over.”
Whether that means that Joe and Angela will begin a new relationship with each other, or begin new relationships with other people—that’s left up to the viewer.
In an interview on the Scriptnotes podcast, The Invite co-writers Rashida Jones and Will McCormack said that the ending was left ambiguous on purpose.
“We’d take polls with the audiences to see what they think happens to them after, and it’s pretty split,” Jones told podcast host John August and Craig Mazin. “I wonder if that’s any indicator of whether or not the couple [who answered the poll] is going to make it.”
McCormack added that the final scene with the piano was intended to be a note of hope, whether or not that means hope for their marriage. (Maybe it just means hope for a friendship!)
“I think that is truly romantic that Joe and Angela last moment. We wanted that overture to feel like a tender mercy,” McCormack said. “When you’re in a marriage for a long time, it is hard, and you don’t have to be perfect. You don’t even have to be good, but you do have to try.”
While it’s left up to the viewer, I personally think that Joe and Angela are going to break up, but maybe stay friends and be able to co-parent their child together. There’s just too much bitterness there to bring back a romantic relationship. But hey, that’s just my opinion. If you have a different take, let me know in the comments.