REVIEW: The Invitation [2022]

December 30, 2022

2–3 minutes

Jessica M. Thompson, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Releasing, The Invitation

Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 105 minutes
Release Date: August 26th, 2022 (USA)
Studio: Screen Gems / Sony Pictures Releasing
Director(s): Jessica M. Thompson
Writer(s): Blair Butler

We can thrive when we are three.

There’s not much to Jessica M. Thompson’s The Invitation. Whether that’s a good thing or not is up to you. I personally didn’t have high expectations, but they were met. And despite what many are saying about its lack of plot/subterfuge being unforgivable, I wasn’t ever bored by the pacing or minimal narrative. I’m honestly not sure what they hoped screenwriter Blair Butler would deliver differently since it’s not like she set something more elaborate up before forgetting about it.

It is what it is: a tale of empowerment on gender, racial, and economic lines. Evie (Nathalie Emmanuel) is a Black artist living paycheck to paycheck with gig jobs in NYC who recently lost her mother, the last remaining member of her known family. She takes a DNA test on a whim to see what might be found about the distant British heritage her relatives only knew as rumor.

Lo and behold, she’s matched with a very white cousin (Hugh Skinner’s Oliver) who explains she’s a “scandalous” piece of their wealthy legacy before inviting her to a wedding at an even richer family’s estate to the applause of his kin for discovering their bloodline wasn’t cursed with all men after all.

The Invitation’s first half plays like a budget Get Out once Evie is whisked away to the white world of old English money while her funny friend (Courtney Taylor’s Grace) jokes she’s asking for trouble. The second half is a budget Ready of Not with secrets revealed and her subsequent violent attempt at escape.

You’d obviously be better off watching both those films, but that doesn’t mean this one isn’t at least worth a look. Emmanuel is great. Thomas Doherty’s Walt could charm even the biggest skeptic in the audience. And Sean Pertwee, Stephanie Corneliussen, and Alana Boden are having a ton of fun.

It’s ultimately an actors’ film as a result. The story throws Evie into the deep-end of a strange land to discover the wolves surrounding her. That’s it plot-wise. Some characters try sweet talking her into thinking otherwise. Some enjoy playing with their food insofar as daring her to realize the truth. And we watch to see how or if she’ll break free.

So, it lives or dies by how much you’re willing to just hang with the cast as they chew scenery and pretend we didn’t already know what’s really going on (names like De Ville and Renfield prove nobody’s hiding anything). If Thompson would have legitimately pushed the envelope at any point, my “fine” might have even turned into a “good.”