- - Olivia Wilde Moved to Tears By Standing Ovation for “The Invite” as Her New Marital Comedy Earns Raves at Sundance

Jack SmartJanuary 26, 2026 at 4:42 AM

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Olivia Wilde attends "The Invite" Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival -

Olivia Wilde directs and stars in The Invite, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to raves on Jan. 24

The film centers entirely on two couples, played by Wilde, Seth Rogen, Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz

"Accept this invite, and fast," wrote one review of Wilde's new film, while another called it "marvelously entertaining."

Olivia Wilde had an emotional night at the Sundance Film Festival.

The director and star of The Invite, 41, premiered the marital comedy at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Jan. 24. The film debuted to rave reviews and the audience gave it a standing ovation, which saw Wilde wiping away years onstage.

“This was the dream, to premiere right here for you guys,” said Wilde, who was joined on the red carpet and onstage for a post-screening Q&A by costars Seth Rogen and Edward Norton.

"The standing ovation was very well deserved," festival director Kim Yutani told Wilde during stage the post-screening Q&A.

Co-written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, The Invite depicts a marriage in crisis, following two couples at a dinner party — a hosting Wilde and Rogen and a visiting Penélope Cruz and Norton. The “fiercely energized chamber dramedy,” per an official synopsis from Sundance, chronicles “the unearthing of long-tenured grievances, insecurities, codependencies, failed aspirations, and sexual FOMO.”

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Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogen attend "The Invite" Premiere

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Critics widely praised Wilde's new film, which chronicles "one disastrous hangout as the married couple downstairs invites the freewheeling couple from upstairs over for drinks," per the Guardian. Wilde "knows exactly what she’s doing, how to calibrate between big laughs and broken hearts, how to use her cast to great effect, and how to surprise her audience at nearly every turn," wrote Indiewire. "Accept this invite, and fast."

Variety called The Invite "marvelously entertaining," writing that "you watch it in a state of rapt immersion and delight."

The Hollywood Reporter gave the former Booksmart director great kudos, too. "After the disproportionate bashing Wilde took on Don’t Worry Darling, her new movie should silence the doubters," wrote the outlet. "At this point it’s hard to deny she’s the real deal as a director."

“I heard a wise person say, you're never as vulnerable as when you're laughing," said Wilde during the Q&A. "The great thing about this script was it allowed us to take people on that journey to let them laugh, let them relax — and then just gut-punch them with divorce.”

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton appear in The Invite by Olivia Wilde

“It is hard for me to overstate the grace and wisdom with which Olivia gave that performance and directed us,” said Norton, 56. “She was operating in so many dimensions at the same time, and yet with not a shred of a sense that there was pressure created by any of that juggling act... I just was like, 'Where's the stress? Where's the difficulty?'"

Rogen, 43, agreed. "When I first signed on the movie, [Wilde] was not going to act in it. Me and Edward and I were texting each other like, 'How the f--- do we talk her into being in the movie?' She kept sending us names of other people. I was like, 'Why are you doing this? What exercise are we doing here? There's an obvious person who should do this.'

"And then once she decided to cast herself in this film, which she didn't seem to want to do, it really took off," added The Studio Emmy winner.

"The extraordinary thing about this process was that we had the opportunity to workshop with Will and Rashida," recalled Wilde, noting that The Invite also filmed in chronological order. "We had this rehearsal period where the six of us sat in a soundstage and we just dug into it."

Several of the film's funniest moments "are written by the cast," added the director.

"I was shocked at how much of the stuff we improvised made it in," said Rogen with a laugh.

Wilde also stars with Cooper Hoffman in filmmaker Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex, another Sundance premiere this year. The Invite marks the actress-director’s first feature-length premiere at the fest.

The 2026 Sundance Film Festival runs from Jan. 22 to Feb. 1 in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s the last iteration of the fest to be held there ahead of a move to Boulder, Colorado in 2027, and the first to be held after the passing of its founder Robert Redford.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”