Olivia Wilde's R-Rated 107-Minute Comedy Is Officially HBO Max's Biggest Streaming Hit

"The Invite" is officially in the number one spot on HBO Max, making it the platform's biggest streaming hit right now. So, why are cinephiles watching this wonderfully uncomfortable movie in droves?

Well, it's partly because it's great, but first, let me provide some crucial context about "The Invite," Olivia Wilde's third movie as a director, which stars Wilde herself, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton. "The Invite" arrived on HBO Max on Friday, October 23, and continued A24's 2026 winning streak. Not only did Kane Parsons' creepypasta horror hit "Backrooms" become the highest-grossing film in the indie studio's history, A24 also earned yet another box office sensation in October with the unnerving and brilliant documentary "You Can See Everything."  ("Backrooms," by the by, is also hanging out in HBO Max's top 10 most popular movies and has been for some time.) 

Amidst all of these wins, A24 also premiered "The Invite" at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in January to immediate critical acclaim. When it finally hit theaters over the summer (with a limited release at the end of June followed by a July 10 wide release), it won over audiences too.

It's a testament to the excellence of "The Invite" that viewers love it so much, because to call this movie a cringe-fest is an understatement. Adapted from Cesc Gay's 2020 Spanish movie "The People Upstairs (Sentimental)" by screenwriters Rashida Jones and Will McCormick, "The Invite" is essentially a play on screen. Set almost entirely inside an apartment, it depicts a horrendously awkward dinner party hosted by the glaringly unhappy couple Joe and Angela (Rogen and Wilde), who tangle with their neighbors Hawk and Pina (Norton and Cruz). So what makes it so great?

Before I start praising Olivia Wilde as a director — and I will — I need to praise her as an actor. Wilde has been reliably great for years, but in "The Invite" she's doing things with her face that I don't think I've seen any human being do before. Angela is a twitchy, uptight, and deeply repressed woman who needs everything to be perfect (her crashout over Pina's strict dietary preferences is particularly funny) and creates a perfect contrast to Rogen's Joe, a laid-back music teacher and musician who doesn't really want to host a dinner party and would prefer to enjoy a joint in solitude. The added complication to Angela and Joe's whole deal? Pina and Hawk's lovemaking is, according to them, really loud, and they're hoping to confront the other couple about the noise level over dinner. Obviously, the whole thing spirals out of control in a delightful way I won't spoil here.

After "Don't Worry Darling," some people soured on Wilde as a director. I will say that I don't think "Don't Worry Darling" is quite as bad as people make it out to be and genuinely believe its mess of a press tour, but that hardly matters now. With "The Invite," Wilde has handily proven that she's a genuinely talented director. (Frankly, she already did that with 2019's "Booksmart," but I digress.) Not only is "The Invite" brilliantly tense and tight throughout its 107 minute runtime, but some of the shots, thanks to Wilde and cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra, are downright striking. Wilde creates a perfectly claustrophobic atmosphere, and in doing so, delivers one of the year's standout films.

The Academy Awards won't air until March 2027, and we won't know who's nominated in any of the major categories until nominations are announced in January of that year ... but that's never stopped me from wildly speculating before. Frankly, I think "The Invite" is going to be a surprisingly big player at the Academy Awards, and it has a decent shot at snagging nods for Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Supporting Actor, as well as Best Picture.

You'll note I didn't say Best Actor. With the utmost due respect to Seth Rogen — an actor, writer, and director I immensely admire — he's sort of doing his regular Rogen schtick in this movie. Despite the growth he's undeniably shown as an actor over the past several years, I just don't think he's going to edge his way into what I expect will be a very competitive Best Actor category. With that said, I do think Wilde could score in both Best Director and Best Actress, which would be astonishing, and previous winner Penélope Cruz and experienced nominee Edward Norton also have extremely solid shots in the supporting categories. (Cruz won in 2008 for Best Supporting Actress for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," and Norton has been nominated for three Supporting Actor trophies and one Best Actor for "Primal Fear," "Birdman," "A Complete Unknown," and "American History X," respectively.

This is all conjecture, but go ahead and decide for yourself if you've got an HBO Max subscription. "The Invite" is streaming there now, and this is an invitation you'll want to accept.