Written by: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi
Directed by: Karyn Kusama
Starring: Logan Marshall-Green, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Michiel Huisman
Rated: -[R]
Watch the trailer
Plot
A dinner party guest becomes paranoid that the hosts are hiding something.
Verdict
The Invitation takes a while before it takes off. When it does, it's really good. The first two-thirds are hurt by stiff acting, and disjointed writing. That and the plot generate a lot of questions. The directing is solid, but the movie makes you work for it. It's a good idea that's only adequately extrapolated.
It depends.
Review
This has a crazy start with Will (Logan Marshall-Green) beating a Coyote to death after he hit it with his car. He's putting it out of his misery, but it's also much easier to just leave it. I hope this would be a telling moment for Will and it is. He's not one to avoid confrontation or do what he feels is right.
The premise is a dinner party reuniting old friends, but the stiff acting and disjointed dialog didn't feel natural. It was hard to believe these people knew each other. While the movie does a great job of creating awkward moments, it's unintended as the awkward moments occur at odd junctures.
I was waiting for people to start dying or go missing, making this a Clue (1985) style murder mystery. Something needed to happen, but all I got was quick clips hinting at history between Will and one of the hosts, Eden. The movie uses this as the main driver of tension, though it just feels cliche.
 |
| The Invitation - Better with wine, or too much runway not enough execution. |
The turning point seems to be that the hosts are into a pyramid scheme of how to overcome grief. I was still hoping for a murder mystery. The guests start playing a game of telling the truth. John Carroll Lynch, who plays Pruitt, a guest no one but the hosts know displays great acting talent with a monologue about how he murdered his wife and served time in jail. This certainly made the dynamic more interesting and the party awkward, but the movie didn't do a great job of capitalizing on it.
Through Will we've gotten clues that something is amiss. He tells everyone, "Something isn't right here. Something very strange is going on." Will may not be a reliable narrator. Will's breaking point is well directed, as you can telegraph his thought process perfectly without words.
The movie lacks a clear focus. It's juggling an unresolved past, emotional tension, a mysterious pyramid scheme, and a couple of strange guests, but the focus doesn't come until later. The movie is a big tease, and the breaking point is all the better because of it. This movie goes from serene to madness in a second. That second makes this movie much better. It went from 'skip it' to an 'it depends', but I wish the moment had occurred much earlier as the first two-thirds of this movie were slow.
No comments :
Post a Comment