One of the year’s buzziest dinner parties has come home.
“The Invite”, the A24 relationship dramedy directed by and starring Olivia Wilde, made its U.S. subscription-streaming debut today exclusively on HBO Max. Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton round out the central cast.
How to stream ‘The Invite’ for free today
“The Invite” began streaming exclusively on HBO Max in the U.S. today (Friday, Oct. 23), and its traditional HBO television premiere is Saturday, Oct. 24, at 8 p.m. Eastern.
That means if you want to watch for free, you’ll want to access a streaming service that includes HBO Max and offers a free viewing promotion.
DIRECTV offers more than one streaming option for “The Invite” fans to watch for free. DIRECTV’s MyEntertainment Genre Pack starts with a 5-day free trial before renewing at $34.99 per month for the first two months (then $42.99 per month). It includes HBO Max Basic With Ads, plus Disney+, Hulu, and AMC+ Monthly with Ads, along with more than 60 live entertainment channels and unlimited cloud DVR storage for on-demand streaming.
DIRECTV’s PREMIER package offers a 5-day free trial as well. PREMIER includes HBO Max along with premium entertainment from HBO, Cinemax, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, and STARZ. The package offers more than 185 channels and starts at $144.99 for the first month (then $174.99 monthly).
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Watch ‘The Invite’ for 40% off on Philo Bundle+
Philo Bundle+ costs $33 per month and includes access to the HBO Max Basic With Ads plan, along with AMC+, discovery+, and All Reality. This means that Philo Bundle+ users can save 40% off the cost of subscribing to individual services while accessing programming via each.
Bundle+ also includes Philo’s live-TV offering, one-year unlimited DVR, and an expanded on-demand library. Philo’s paid plans support streaming on up to three devices at once and as many as 10 profiles.
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What is ‘The Invite’ about?
At the center of “The Invite” are Joe and Angela, a married couple whose relationship is already in trouble when they invite their intriguing upstairs neighbors to dinner.
The HBO Max synopsis describes Joe and Angela’s marriage as being on “thin ice,” with the dinner party sending their evening in increasingly unexpected directions and raising the question of whether the encounter could revive their relationship or finish it off.
Seth Rogen plays Joe opposite Olivia Wilde as Angela, while Penélope Cruz plays Piña and Edward Norton portrays Hawk.
The R-rated, 1-hour, 47-minute movie blends comedy and drama and is an English-language adaptation of filmmaker Cesc Gay’s Spanish film “The People Upstairs.” Will McCormack and Rashida Jones wrote the screenplay.
Who is in ‘The Invite’ cast?
Despite its marquee names, “The Invite” revolves around an unusually small core ensemble:
- Seth Rogen as Joe
- Olivia Wilde as Angela
- Penélope Cruz as Piña
- Edward Norton as Hawk
The film also marks Wilde’s third feature as a director. Her previous directing credits are “Booksmart” and “Don’t Worry Darling.”
Behind the scenes, Wilde told Deadline following the movie’s Sundance premiere that the cast approached the production somewhat like a stage play, with opportunities to workshop the material and rehearse. She also said the movie was shot on film and in chronological order.
