The Invite hits HBO Max on Friday, October 23. If you’ve been waiting on Olivia Wilde’s A24 dinner party comedy to land somewhere you’re already paying for, this is the week. It streams exclusively on HBO Max in the U.S. starting Friday, then airs on HBO’s regular channel Saturday, October 24 at 8 p.m. ET.

I’ve wanted to see this movie since the first trailer dropped. Then life happened. Kids, work, deadlines, the whole lineup. By the time I looked up, it was already on digital rental, and paying around twenty bucks to rent a movie for one night is never going to sit right with me.

So I waited. This past weekend the price dropped to $7.99, and I finally bit the bullet. The very next morning I found out it was coming to HBO Max in a few days. Of course.

Luckily it was worth money. It’s entertaining, thought provoking and you can easily get caught up in the characters and story. Here’s everything you need to know before you stream The Invite on HBO Max.

When Is The Invite on HBO Max?

The Invite starts streaming on HBO Max in the U.S. on Friday, October 23, 2026. Warner Bros. Discovery hasn’t announced an exact drop time, so check the app that morning. If you’d rather catch it as an old school TV event, HBO airs it Saturday, October 24 at 8 p.m. ET.

The film went from theaters to digital rental back in August, and it stuck around on the rental charts for weeks. Now it lands on HBO Max thanks to A24’s long running deal that sends its theatrical releases to the service after their run.

What Is The Invite About?

Joe and Angela have been married a long time, and it shows. They bicker. They talk over each other. They live in a gorgeous San Francisco apartment that feels a lot bigger than their actual connection.

Then Angela invites the upstairs neighbors down for dinner. Piña and Hawk are everything Joe and Angela aren’t: loose, confident, and very comfortable in their own skin. Joe and Angela have heard plenty through the ceiling to know that much.

What starts as an awkward dinner party turns into a long night of confessions, temptation, and the kind of honesty most couples spend years avoiding. The less you know going in, the better. Just know the title is doing a lot of work.

The movie is a remake of Sentimental, the 2020 Spanish film from Cesc Gay (released in some markets as The People Upstairs). Will McCormack and Rashida Jones wrote the American version, and yes, that’s the same Rashida Jones from Parks and Recreation.

The Invite Cast

This is basically a four person play, so the cast is everything.

Seth Rogen as Joe. A jazz teacher who has gotten comfortable being bitter. Rogen plays him spiky and defensive, and a lot of his best lines reportedly came from improvisation.

Olivia Wilde as Angela. Wilde directs and stars, and critics singled her out as anxious, frantic, and funny in a way we haven’t really seen from her before.

Penélope Cruz as Piña. The upstairs neighbor, a therapist with zero filter. Several reviews named Cruz the film’s secret weapon.

Edward Norton as Hawk. Piña’s husband, smug and magnetic in equal measure. Norton reportedly wrote his character’s big third act monologue himself.

There’s a small supporting cast, but these four carry nearly the entire movie in one apartment over one night.

What Critics Said About The Invite

Short version: critics loved it.

The Invite premiered at Sundance in January, set off a bidding war that A24 won, and has stayed in “universal acclaim” territory on Metacritic ever since, with a Rotten Tomatoes score sitting in the 90s. That kind of consensus is rare for a comedy, and even rarer for an R rated grown folks comedy with no franchise attached.

The praise mostly lands in three places. The four leads have real chemistry, and the long dialogue scenes feel lived in rather than scripted. Wilde’s directing turns a single location story into something that looks and moves like a real movie and not a filmed stage play (it was shot on 35mm, in story order). And underneath the jokes, it says something real about long term relationships. Critics kept comparing it to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which is about as high a bar as a marriage movie can get. The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney said it “should silence the doubters” about Wilde as a director.

It wasn’t unanimous, though. The Playlist found it overstyled and exhausting, arguing all the technique crowds out any real heart. Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri felt the characters never quite read as real people. WBUR thought it started strong and then took a wrong turn. The common complaint: Wilde’s style is a lot, and the score and editing can feel heavy handed.

For Wilde, the reception is a comeback story. Her 2022 film Don’t Worry Darling got buried in bad reviews and behind the scenes drama. She has since said that rough patch actually freed her up to make this one exactly how she wanted.

Is The Invite Worth Watching on HBO Max?

I loved it.

Seth Rogen is phenomenal, even if he never really steps outside his Seth bag. He doesn’t need to. He’s just that good at playing a guy who has quietly given up on his dreams. Olivia Wilde matches him with a near perfect performance. You can tell from the jump that Angela has something up her sleeve, and as the secrets come out, Wilde pulls you in deeper.

The Invite plays more like a stage play than a movie, and that’s exactly why it works for me. I love films set in limited locations. With nowhere else to go, the dialogue and the acting have to take center stage.

My favorite thing, though, was the music. Devonté Hynes’ score clashes against the arguments in a way that feels completely intentional, adding tension and real stakes to even the most mundane disagreements.

If you like talky, adult relationship movies where the tension builds in real time, this is an easy yes. Think less broad Seth Rogen stoner comedy and more four grown people slowly peeling back layers over wine.

If you want plot twists, action, or a lot of locations, it’s probably not your movie. It’s mostly people talking in one apartment for about an hour and 45 minutes.

Is The Invite Appropriate for Kids?

No. The Invite is rated R, and it earns it. Expect strong language, frank sexual conversation, sexual situations, and drug use. This is a save it for after bedtime movie. Trust me, plan accordingly.

The Invite on HBO Max: Frequently Asked Questions

What time does The Invite come out on HBO Max?

HBO Max hasn’t confirmed an exact time. The film streams starting Friday, October 23. The HBO channel airing is Saturday, October 24 at 8 p.m. ET.

How long is The Invite?

The Invite runs 1 hour and 47 minutes.

Is The Invite a remake?

Yes. It’s an American remake of Sentimental, the 2020 Spanish film by Cesc Gay.

Do I need to rent The Invite now that it’s on HBO Max?

Not if you have an HBO Max subscription. Starting October 23 it’s included with your plan in the U.S., so there’s no need to pay for a rental. Take it from someone who just did.