Skip to content

Frank's Movie Log

My life at the movies.

The Invitation

2015 | United States | 100 min | More...
A still from The Invitation (2015)
B: 4 stars (out of 5)
on Tue Dec 22, 2020

Logan Marshall-Green plays a man invited to his estranged ex’s house for a dinner party. He brings his new girlfriend. As the evening unfolds, he withdraws, suspecting something sinister afoot. Is he right, or has his troubled past caught up with him?

Revisiting The Invitation after several years, I found it even more engaging. I loved Marshall-Green’s underplayed performance. He conveys volumes in a single look.

I also loved the languid pace. I recognized several hints pointing toward the film’s conclusion but appreciated how the film proves in no hurry to arrive there. It’s comfortable in awkward silences and long takes.

But it almost crumbles under the weight of its own gravitas. There’s an inherent current of black humor the script never embraces, and the cloying flashbacks pulled me out of the narrative.

Viewing History

    Watched on
    Tue Dec 22, 2020 via Netflix
    Watched on
    Sat Oct 28, 2017 via Netflix