Last Updated on August 30, 2022
PLOT: After taking a genealogy test, a young woman is invited to a wedding to meet her new family. But things are not as they seem and she may soon regret seeking them out.
REVIEW: There’s a lot of mystery surrounding The Invitation and it starts right with its title. Why name something after another horror movie that was already so well received and also still very recent? It clearly must mean they have something special that’s really deserving of the name right? Well, I’m not so sure about that. Oh and if you don’t want to know anything about this movie, then you better be staying away from ALL marketing materials. Because even that trailer above spoils the crap out of this film. But if you’re like me and stayed away from all of that, what is this film about?
Nathalie Emmanuel (who everyone likely knows from Game of Thrones) stars as Evie and she’s recently lost her mother. Desperate to find more family connections, she does a 23 and Me-style genealogy test and gets contacted by a wealthy English family. After meeting with one of them, she receives an invitation (heh, get it?) to an extravagant wedding that the entire family will be attending. You would think that she would be a little more hesitant to go but instead goes with bells on. It’s a miracle she’s made it this far in life without being murdered.
There’s clearly something going on with this whole shindig, yet Evie is shockingly ignorant of it all. She makes little comments about how things are weird, but she just attributes it to rich people being rich and moves on. It makes her really hard to actually care about, as she consistently is making boneheaded moves. Hell, I lost track of the number of times she broke things for no good reason. And she’s practically being beaten over the head with reasons to leave.
Most of the other characters seem to occupy generic English stereotypes, but there is a bit of reason for that. They establish early that these are very elite families and come from old money. The most important of them all is the master of the house, Walter. Thomas Doherty does a wonderful job and fits the role of Walter perfectly. There’s just enough charm there while still providing a bit of unease beneath every look. He and Evie have a really fun and flirty back and forth. But oddly enough, their chemistry seems to disappear when they’re intimate.
Most of the side characters are rather forgettable but I got quite the kick out of Alana Boden as Lucy. She’s plucky and full of energy, which this drab movie desperately needed at times. While her motivations were a little bit all over the place, she was easily the most entertaining character. Sean Pertwee stars as the head Butler, Mr. Fields, and he’s impossible to like. They lay it on a little thick but his dickishness sets up the treatment of the other staff well.
Unfortunately, The Invitation really falls apart in its third act. There were certainly some eye rolls in the build-up, but mostly I was on board for the story they were telling. There was enough mystery at hand that kept me interested, and Walter was an extremely intriguing character. But that really just wasn’t enough when it comes to some of the silliness at play. They try to go large but it involves some really bad CGI and melodrama. And that’s not even getting into all the absurd jump scares that are littered throughout.
There’s also a bizarre ending tag on the film, that almost feels straight out of the MCU. To say that’s weird is a bit of an understatement. Especially when you compare it to the tone of the rest of the film. So while there’s definitely some stuff to enjoy in this film, overall the execution feels like it was fumbled. While there are sure to be some who love the twist, I can’t imagine there will be many who love what follows after it. Which is really too bad because I love a good ending. But The Invitation is certainly not that.
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