The Invite plus Short Takes on some other cinematic topics

“Oh, we could be married /

And then we’d be happy”* … Or Not

*(lyrics taken from The Beach Boys’ "Wouldn't It Be Nice")

Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke

I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.  However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, but better options are on the horizon.  (Note: Anything in bold blue below [or near purple] is a link to something in the above title or the review.)

My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”

(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)

However, if you’d like to know more about rationale of my ratings visit this explanatory site.

               The Invite (Olivia Wilde)   rated R  107 min.

Here’s the trailer:

        (Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size; 

        activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)

If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy).  To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows: 

⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.

WHAT HAPPENS: Joe (Seth Rogen) teaches music at a small conservatory in San Francisco in a life filled with many frustrations: he used to be in a small combo that didn’t succeed professionally so he doesn’t even touch his piano anymore; he travels home up a steep hill on a fold-up bike (that doesn’t fold up easily) so he’s exhausted when he arrives; the passion seems to have left his life with wife Angela (Olivia Wilde), a former art student now a stay-at-home spouse who pours her aesthetic visions into decorating their apartment with objects such as a rug Joe sees as expensive, unnecessary (he also resents having to take off his shoes when he comes inside), but to make things worse she’s invited the upstairs neighbors to dinner that night with him not getting her text to pick up some wine; Joe further dislikes this couple because their loud sex keeps him awake at night, but Angela insists he not bring it up.  They—Piña (Penélope Cruz), a psychiatrist/sexologist, and Hawk (Edward Norton), a retired firefighter—arrive, offer small talk even as Joe makes insulting remarks which, surprisingly, they appreciate because of his honesty even as dinner’s not very successful because Piña has extensive food allergies which Angela forgot to inquire about.  (Oddly enough, much of this trauma leads into humorous dialogue, which why this film's called a "comedy.")

 

 As the night goes on (Joe's upset Hawk can see via parallel windows nude Angela leaving the shower, though she’s a bit turned on by it) Piña and Hawk apologize for the noise which comes from sex parties, not just their personal actions.  Further, the neighbors reveal they’ve come to invite Joe and Angela to join their parties, but Piña, concerned about the couple’s constant squabbling, suggests they just swap partners right now, an agreed-upon decision.  ⇒Angela turns shy with Hawk, though, even as Joe tries dancing with Piña but falls, hurting his back which results in him spewing out a lot of insults to his guests.  In response to an attack on his unlikely name, Hawk reveals (in a long, impactful monologue [which Norton wrote]) how he was despondent when his former wife died so he made radical changes in his life, yet he then gets a new attack from Piña about many things including his poor attempts at speaking Spanish to her.  Piña also tells Angela and Joe their relationship has run its course with them sadly agreeing to separate; yet, after the neighbors leave Joe begins to play his piano with Angela joining him, her head on his shoulder.⇐

SO WHAT? I’ve been fairly lucky in these past few months in finding unexpected pleasures in streaming while Nina and I carefully choose when to chance COVID exposure in a theater (still waiting for the IMAX crowds to ease up for The Odyssey [Christopher Nolan]), I’ve also been patiently waiting for a few current releases to make their way to streaming, with The Invite at the top of my list, so I was overjoyed last weekend to find this marvelously-reviewed film could finally find a home in my Roku device.  Others have already commented on what The Invite shares with long-ago-culture-challenging cinema such as the open-marriage possibilities/conflicts in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Paul Mazursky, 1969) and those vicious-interpersonal-verbal-battles in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols, 1966), so I’ll just refer you to these Wikipedia summaries if you need to understand (or refresh yourself) on the references to these filmic classics; what works for me about The Invite—with its clever use of that title to refer to both Angela’s invitation to the neighbors for dinner and the offer made by Hawk and Piña to Joe and Angela to join in with them in sexual “deviance”—is that it doesn’t back off as easily as Bob … from the “illicit” sex swap (although we’re not clear how far Angela would have gone with Hawk had she not heard Joe fall badly in another room), plus (most importantly for me) the lashing out, mostly by Joe, isn’t nearly as emotionally-horrid as what transpires in …  Virginia Woolf? (such dialogue confrontations I’m not opposed to in the earlier film; it’s just that it works so devastatingly-well there I don’t wish to be bombarded again).  

 

 Given that The Invite runs in real time (once we get past the opening credits with some SF shots to remind us there is a city out there beyond what we encounter within Angela and Joe’s apartment and the establishment of Joe’s marginal interest with his students as he leaves when they're rehearsing) in a confined space with most of the action coming from a lot of sharply-spoken dialogue (with lots of closeups) what is needed for this narrative to work is a carefully-constructed script delivered by highly-professional actors, both elements firmly on display here as Wilde balances directing duties with performance (after being encouraged into the role by her 3 castmates) and screenwriters Will McCormack and Rashida Jones provide an effective adaptation from the 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs (Cesc Gay)—OK, all I can say is the new script works well, but I know nothing about the earlier film, called Sentimental in Spanish (though it does have 100% acceptance in RT reviews).

BOTTOM LINE FINAL COMMENTS: The Invite opened in domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters on June 26, 2026 (oddly enough, it came out a day earlier in Ukraine if its theaters weren’t bombed shut by Russia), has made $25 million at the box-office ($46.2 million worldwide), now seems to best be found via streaming where you can rent it for $19.99 from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.  This is definitely one the CCAL can easily promote with the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews at 97% (highest of anything both they and I have reviewed of 2026 releases) and the Metacritic average score way up there for them at 82% (also the highest of the mutual reviews I’ve shared with this site regarding 2026 filmic product).  Clearly, it’s the best I’ve seen so far this year as it’s the only film I’ve rated above the 4-stars level, so I’m enthusiastic about encouraging you to see it.  Someone who joins me in that is Owen Gleiberman of Variety (MC 100) who says: “When you go into a movie knowing that it’s about two couples who get together for a dinner party, there are certain expectations about what’s going to happen that are just about wired into our moviegoing DNA.  [… This is one] that lives up to every one of those expectations. Yet it does so in a way that’s so original, so brimming with surprise, so fresh and up-to-the-minute in its perceptions of how relationships work (or don’t), that you watch it in a state of rapt immersion and delight. […] All four of the actors are amazing. […] ‘The Invite’ is marvelously entertaining, but part of the reason for that is that I think a lot of people are going to see themselves mirrored in this movie, which for all its sharp-tongued bravura is humane enough to play a truth game that rings true.”   A quite true insight. 

 However, I always try to offer you a dissenting opinion in case such a response might be more in tune with your tastes, even though I had a hard time finding such regarding The Invite; further, the negative reviews I did locate all came from folks I’m not familiar with so I just arbitrarily chose Danielle Solzman of Movie Reviews (RT 2½ of 5): “I truthfully don’t think that it was a film that was made for me. I cannot tell you just how many times I found myself sitting there uncomfortably with what was transpiring on screen. […] You may feel differently when it comes to watching The Invite. I did find myself laughing at times, but if I’m being honest, I can’t remember how often—or whether it was all that much. There are the comedies that I look forward to rewatching, and then there are the one-and-done comedies. […] Ultimately, The Invite is an ambitious attempt at a comedy that pushes its characters into increasingly uncomfortable territory. While some audiences may connect with its approach, the result is a comedy that struggles to leave a lasting impression beyond its willingness to test boundaries.”  (I'd say it's not fully intended as comedic.)  I have an easy time agreeing with this film’s supporters, finding little connection with the few naysayers, but  wasn’t so quick in locating a proper Musical Metaphor to finish off this posting so I finally settled on The Beatles’ "Within You Without You" (George Harrison’s India-inspired tune on 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) because, at their best, the 4 people in this film “were talking about the love we all could share, when we find it / To try our best to hold it there, with our love,” even though much energy that night was spent on “We were talking about the love that’s gone so cold / And the people, who gain the world and lose their soul / They don’t know, they can’t see, are you one of them?”  I couldn’t be more emphatic in trying to direct you to The Invite where I hope you’ll find inspirational-reason to make the best effort you can in preserving the relationship you might have or, like me 39 years ago, finding one you can successfully invest in for the long run.

       

SHORT TAKES

       

Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:

 

We encourage you to visit the Summary of Two Guys Reviews for our past posts* (scroll to the bottom of this Summary page to see additional info about your wacky critic, Ken Burke, along with contact info and a great retrospective song list).  Overall notations for this blog—including Internet formatting craziness beyond our control—may be found at our Two Guys in the Dark homepage.  If you’d like to Like us on Facebook (yes?) please visit our Facebook page.  We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it unto us!  Please also note that to Post a Comment below about our reviews you need to have either a Google account (which you can easily get at https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount if you need to sign up) or other sign-in identification from the pull-down menu below before you preview or post.  You can also leave comments at our Facebook page, although you may have to somehow register with us there in order to comment (FB procedures: frequently perplexing mysteries for us aged farts).

 

*Please ignore previous warnings about a “dead link” to our Summary page because the problem’s been manually fixed so that all postings since July 11, 2013 now have the proper functioning link.

 

If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here at the blog please 

use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work.

          

OUR POSTINGS PROBABLY LOOK BEST ON THE MOST CURRENT VERSIONS OF MAC OS AND THE SAFARI WEB BROWSER (although Google Chrome usually is decent also); OTHERWISE, BE FOREWARNED THE LAYOUT MAY SEEM MESSY AT TIMES.

          

Finally, for the data-oriented among you, Google stats say over the past month the total unique hits at this site were 47,668.  (As always, we thank all of you for your ongoing support with hopes you’ll continue to be regular readers.)  Below is a snapshot of where those responses have come from within the previous week (appreciation for the unspecified “Others” also visiting Two Guys’ site):

The Dink plus Short Takes on some other cinematic topics

Tennis Stars in a “Pickle”

Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke

I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.  However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, but better options are on the horizon.  (Note: Anything in bold blue below [or near purple] is a link to something in the above title or the review.)

My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”

(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)

However, if you’d like to know more about rationale of my ratings visit this explanatory site.

 

The Dink (Josh Greenbaum)   rated PG-13  103 min.

Here’s the trailer:

        (Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size; 

        activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)

 

If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy).  To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows: 

⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.

WHAT HAPPENS: Dustin—Dusty, or alternately “The Hammer” (his sports nickname coming from an early ability of powerful tennis serves)—Boyd (Jake Johnson) was trained from early boyhood by demanding father Chuck Boyd (Ed Harris) to be a domineering tennis pro, which he was on his way to becoming, collecting wins and trophies along the way until he met his match (so to speak) as a teen (played by Nathan Blair then) against an even-better player, Andy Roddick (Cooper Woestendick then, actual Roddick later), whose intimidating actions led to a mid-match bathroom break where, as Dusty’s story goes, he slipped on a wet floor (implications blamed Roddick), injuring his wrist, ending his career (although he much later admits he was so intimidated that day he slammed his racket on his wrist to prevent losing to Andy).  Now, as a young adult he works half-heartedly at Dad’s tennis club, not putting much effort into teaching tennis skills to young kids.  Then Chuck gets a challenge from pickleball players who want more courts, especially because the only one they have isn’t in proper shape.  Chuck cites a rule that calls for a tennis tournament to settle any disputes, with the assumption Dusty will emerge as Dad’s finalist, especially because he’s in much better shape than the club’s other, older members; however, when Dusty attempts to jump over the net to congratulate a badly-beaten opponent he trips, severely injuring his right wrist again.  

 

 Dusty’s (sex-obsessed) physician, Dr. Stone (Ben Stiller), tells him pickleball would speed up his recovery so he grumbles but goes out to learn this objectionable sport where he ends up teaming with Candice (Mary Steenburgen), a considerably-older divorcee, whom he begins to become attracted to, even pretending to be her boyfriend to counter her ex-husband, Mitch’s (Martin Kove), flaunting of his new, young squeeze.  Yet, Candice tells Dusty she’s not attracted to him, they part on bad terms.  As the tennis tournament goes on, Dusty’s wrist heals, Chuck chooses him as his hoped-for champion, but Dusty finds out it’s only because the previous choice died in a freak accident.  Angry, Dusty reconciles with Candice, plays for the pickleballers, learns his opponent will be Andy Roddick; after winning a coin toss Dusty picks the pickleball court in hopes of putting Roddick at a surprise disadvantage; nevertheless, Andy quickly learns the new game, starts piling up crucial points ⇒until pickle-proud Skip (Patton Oswalt) tells Dusty to use the dilapidated court to his advantage, which he does, then wins with a dink shot (soft serve just over the net, opponent can’t get to it fast enough).  Despite knowing he must now provide more pickleball courts, Chuck’s happy Dusty finally beat Roddick.  Six months later there’s lot of pickleball players at the club, including Chuck, with Dusty and Candice as teammates, close friends.⇐  (More plot details here if you wish.)

SO WHAT? If nothing else, I finally learned a few things about pickleball, not that my increasingly-mobility-challenged body would ever allow me on a court to see what skills I might (more likely, might not) possess, although Nina and I did agree on some interest in going down to our condo-complex clubhouse to see if either of us can still hit a ball over a ping-pong net.  Fortunately, you don’t need to know anything, really, about pickleball to follow what’s happening in this intentionally-silly movie because it’s mostly about relationships that don’t work a lot of the time (although presented in manners that are usually more humorous than soul-crushing; probably the one with the least trauma is the long-standing friendship between Dusty and his constant-supporter, PJ [Aaron Chen]) with an inevitable final showdown that you can easily follow from the ongoing point-totals, even if you’re not clear how those points are achieved.  You don’t even have to know much about constantly-complaining John McEnroe (playing himself) to appreciate the remarks from this grouchy tennis legend.  However, while I got enough enjoyment from watching this movie I can’t say it was anything beyond predictable most of the time—the only real surprise for me coming from Candice’s uninterest in Dusty’s awakening attraction toward her (seeming encouraged by watching The Graduate [Mike Nichols, 1967] with her—but Candice is nothing like Mrs. Robinson—even as he’d never previously heard of the film nor knew who Dustin Hoffman was [I guess there’s no regular gathering of Dustins to share life stories], although he did easily recognize that Benjamin Braddock [Hoffman] was driving the wrong way on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge if he’s supposedly going to Berkely, a necessary visual compromise of the shot to be able to see him on the top deck of the bridge; I guess this Dusty knows the territory), so we thankfully didn’t have to get into cougar-concerns about their age gap.  There’s really not much else to say about what goes on here, but it was never boring, the characters and conflicts were all well-presented, and pickleballers especially (the rest of us as well) would likely have a hard time finding their new sport so celebrated elsewhere.

BOTTOM LINE FINAL COMMENTS: The Dink is a straight-to-streaming release, on Apple TV since July 24, 2026, free to that platform’s subscribers (or to anyone with their 7-days no-charge access offer, then $12.99 on a monthly basis should you choose to continue).  The CCAL’s somewhat supportive of your possible interest in this movie with the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews at 75% but the Metacritic average score reverses those numbers to 57% as my 3 of 5 stars (60%) is close to the MCers as I found this presentation to be funny some of the time, predictable almost all of the time, yet still fun enough to watch given how the headliners in the cast were consistently enjoying themselves.  One critic who also found enjoyment here is Carla Meyer of my local San Francisco Chronicle who says: “A broad, intentionally stupid sports comedy centered on pickleball, ‘The Dink’ pays homage to the ‘00s subgenre that included the gems ‘Dodgeball’ and ‘Talladega Nights’ and duds ‘Blades of Glory’ and ‘Semi-Pro,’ themselves all spiritual descendants of ‘Caddyshack’ (1980). […] Such full commitment to risky comedic asides evokes ‘Barb and Star’ the sublimely dumb 2021 Kristen Wiig comedy that was released on VOD rather than in theaters because of the pandemic. A cult favorite at the time, it has picked up critical steam since. [¶] Despite a plot that goes in and out of consciousness and a 102-minute runtime that approaches bloat, ‘The Dink’ matches ‘Barb and Star” in laughs per scene, and eventually, a sense of hopefulness. Don’t wait for it to be rediscovered.”  Carla, thanks for these allusive-connections, saved me research time.

 As you might assume, though, with this rather-tepid CCAL response there are others not so overjoyed with what The Dink delivers, like David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter (MC 40): “As original streaming movies go, it’s not the worst, nor is it at all memorable. […] Even an ensemble stacked with veterans of standup, sitcoms and sketch comedy fails to bring much edge to the material. When John McEnroe parodying his unfiltered tennis commentator style is the closest you get to funny, maybe something’s missing. […] Like most meat-grinder, non-auteur streaming originals, The Dink — named for an often-decisive drop shot — has the bland sheen of an insurance commercial. […] In truth, it’s not much of anything beyond background noise while you’re making dinner. The most imaginative thing about it is that it’s not called Pickleball.”  I certainly didn’t find it to be nearly that bad, although I admit there’s nothing about the elements that constitute it to lure me back for a repeat viewing, so choose as you will as to whether this one goes on your schedule or not; while you’re contemplating that, you can be entertained with my standard review wrap-up of a Musical Metaphor, this time Queen’s "We Are the Champions" (1977 News of the World album) where during the movie, you can practically hear Dusty singing “You brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it / I thank you all / But it’s been no bed of roses / No pleasure cruise / I consider it a challenge before the whole human race / And I ain’t gonna lose.”  Pickleball may never overtake tennis in popularity, but its supporters in this story have certainly found their outdoor calling.

         

SHORT TAKES

           

Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:

        

We encourage you to visit the Summary of Two Guys Reviews for our past posts* (scroll to the bottom of this Summary page to see additional info about your wacky critic, Ken Burke, along with contact info and a great retrospective song list).  Overall notations for this blog—including Internet formatting craziness beyond our control—may be found at our Two Guys in the Dark homepage.  If you’d like to Like us on Facebook (yes?) please visit our Facebook page.  We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it unto us!  Please also note that to Post a Comment below about our reviews you need to have either a Google account (which you can easily get at https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount if you need to sign up) or other sign-in identification from the pull-down menu below before you preview or post.  You can also leave comments at our Facebook page, although you may have to somehow register with us there in order to comment (FB procedures: frequently perplexing mysteries for us aged farts).

 

*Please ignore previous warnings about a “dead link” to our Summary page because the problem’s been manually fixed so that all postings since July 11, 2013 now have the proper functioning link.

 

If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here at the blog please 

use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work.

             

OUR POSTINGS PROBABLY LOOK BEST ON THE MOST CURRENT VERSIONS OF MAC OS AND THE SAFARI WEB BROWSER (although Google Chrome usually is decent also); OTHERWISE, BE FOREWARNED THE LAYOUT MAY SEEM MESSY AT TIMES.

           

Finally, for the data-oriented among you, Google stats say over the past month the total unique hits at this site were 47,668.  (As always, we thank all of you for your ongoing support with hopes you’ll continue to be regular readers.)  Below is a snapshot of where those responses have come from within the previous week (appreciation for the unspecified “Others” also visiting Two Guys’ site):