The Island Cinephile

The Invitation: Glorified Fanfiction

If ever you were a fan of those young adult fanfictions, The Invitation bears similarity to such. A young, struggling artist named Evelyn Jackson is our protagonist. Imbued with pain from the loss of her mother, and already at terms with the death of her father many years ago; Evie is in an isolated place. Aware of her pain, her best friend Grace provides her with a DNA test kit to try her hand at finding any long, lost family members. After much contemplation, she gives in and takes the test. Moving very quickly, we find out that she has a wealthy cousin named Oliver Alexander who immediately reaches out to her. He recounts a scandalous tale of her great-grandmother dating a black footman. Amid her vulnerability, she is extended an invitation to attend a family wedding. Evie though rejects initially, eventually acquiesces after much pleading from a man who she meets for the first time, and claimed to be her cousin. This interaction alone solidifies Evie as one who makes poor decisions.  

Directed by Jessica Thompson, the film is merely glorified fanfiction that attempts to parade in depth. With cheesy dialogue, our characters are a direct result of challenged writing attributed to Blair Butler. The lack of subtlety in exposition greatly harms the film from the jump. Very often our characters lead us to a conclusion by plainly telling us – there is no nuance, just fact. Everything each character expressed seemed apart from who they were and regurgitated points. Evie‘s constant declaration of the absence of a real family – which is already told to us in the beginning, but it comes back at least four times in the film. We get it; she doesn’t have a family. There were many statements that held no value other than to advise the audience of what was happening. The storyline is haphazard, wrapping in an even more disappointing end. It began as if it were meant to be a paranormal film, but it instead devolves into something more elementary and less fleshed out – vampires. Entirely too ambitious, it attempts to establish multiple ideas yet settles on a mess of confusion. 

Nathalie Emmanuel is our Evie and her acting in this film has nothing to do with her and everything to do with the writing. Evie seldom makes wise decisions throughout the film or questions anything yet; she possesses the ability to outsmart everyone near the end. Courtney Taylor, meant to be Evie’s best friend, operates solely as a static character and is just there to support her. Despite their given title, their relationship mostly gave friendly acquaintances. Thomas Doherty as Walt de Ville, is the charming Lord of the manor. He plays this role well but erred on cheesy with hollow dialogue whispered through the comically, large fangs fashioned for him. Hugh Skinner as the long, lost cousin Oliver, is present just to drive the plot forward. Most of our characters are solely utilized as exposition deliverers. One of the redeeming qualities of the film is leant to the beautiful cinematography by Autumn Eakin. 

The Invitation is fanfiction that made it to theaters, yet it failed to deliver what was promised. With simplistic characters, uninspired dialogue, and a choppy storyline, the film becomes a cautionary tale on what truly harms a film in storytelling. 

Watch trailer for The Invitation.