I doubt I would have watched The Uninvited of my own volition had I not been, pardon the pun, invited to watch the film. A film that’s a little inside-baseball about American show business, featuring a bunch of crabbity, rich people being … well, rich, is hardly something I’d sign up for. But the premise seemed intriguing, as did the cast, so I thought I’d give it a shot.
What Happens in The Uninvited?
Not to be confused with the horror film with the same name, in The Uninvited, a married couple in show business are about to throw a memorable Hollywood party. But when an elderly woman arrives at their house claiming it as her own, a can of worms opens up, leading to revelations, admissions, conversations about aging and a critique of who gets left behind.
The Uninvited is akin to a locked-room story, if the locked room were a sprawling villa with a giant backyard. The majority of the story takes place within the confines of the home of protagonists Rose (Elizabeth Reaser), a former stage actress, and Sammy, an agent.
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A Couple at Odds
In the film, Sammy’s making a professional change, but to do that, he needs his biggest client, Gerald (Rufus Sewell), to buy into his plan. Sammy decides to butter Gerald up through a grand party in his backyard. There’s a photo booth, expensive drinks, and a movie star. This should be a hit in the making. Except Rose and Sammy’s relationship is tenuous.
The couple can’t interact without cutting each other down and bickering. All of which is made worse by the fact that Rose has organized and prepped for the party all on her own, and it’s solely for Sammy’s benefit. Yet, he hasn’t lifted a finger. But, if they thought they were in trouble before the party, the arrival of Helen (Lois Smith), is about to derail everything they had planned.
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Helen is an elderly woman who insists that Rose is in her house. Rose is suddenly stuck taking care of her, and during the course of the film, several different guests of the party end up interacting with or looking after Helen. Helen becomes the catalyst for people to enter the story and come together.
The Little Details Keep You Watching
The back-and-forth banter and dialogue, especially in the first two acts of The Uninvited, are gripping to watch. The characters are not likeable, but you understand them. Rose is tired and frustrated, and she’s seething, but can’t explode. Sammy is desperate and afraid to admit he’s been taking his life and family for granted.
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And there are these little details about how show business works that leak into the dialogue and keep you watching. While the second half of The Uninvited doesn’t lose all of that, it gets bogged down by cliches that derail the film’s initial charms. More on that in a bit.
An Exploration of the Pressures of Being a Woman
As per the production notes I received for the film, writer-director Nadia Conners (also the wife of star Walton Goggins) wrote The Uninvited based on a real experience with a stranger, as well as her own feelings of anger and confusion about the pressures she felt as a woman who became a mother at an older age. She expertly weaves those frustrations into the dialogue of the film and channels this plotline through Rose.
The first time we see Rose, she’s critiquing herself in the mirror, appalled by how old she looks — a constant reminder that she’s no longer getting callbacks because she’s considered to have aged out. On the other hand, she’s also had to put her career on the back burner because her husband, Sammy, an agent, is always working late, and someone has to raise their son, Wilder (Roland Rubio).
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Rose is the one who has the thankless, mostly invisible labor of organizing the party, and what does she get in return? Watching her husband attempting to court a hot, new young actress, Delia (Eva De Dominici) — for a role or for romance, I’m not entirely sure. Conners emphasizes the vastness of what Rose is handling through a script that’s precise but not heavy-handed (for the most part) or exposition-heavy.
The Performances
It’s not difficult to become invested in The Uninvited because all the performances are solid. Elizabeth Reaser is believable as a downtrodden former star, and what I particularly liked was how she was never melodramatic in the film. She maintains a steady, calm tone that’s easy to be drawn to. Again, it’s not a knockout performance, but it does the trick.
Walton Goggins has some stellar moments of acting out his irritability and frustration, and he shines during those. However, by the end of the film, whatever magic he had dissipates — I blame the tropes.
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The real star of the film is Lois Smith. This lady is over 90, and she’s amazing. Smith plays Helen with such an authenticity that you could imagine her being your neighbour or an elderly relative who’s ailing and confused. She’s not for histrionics or dramatics despite the circumstances that Helen finds herself in. Smith was great to watch.
The Supporting Cast
Pedro Pascal may have third billing, but he has a fairly small role. I’m unsure why they chose to dress him in an oversized Hawaiian shirt and messy hair. I understand the man has charisma, but he’s a movie star in The Uninvited, a step above the rest of the party guests; shouldn’t there have been some flair to him? I suppose a stronger performance from Pascal would have alleviated the criticism of his style. He’s not bad in it, but Pascal is missing the magnetism we’re used to seeing in him.
Rufus Sewell is his usual smarmy self, so no surprises there. Eva De Dominici plays the quintessential role of the gorgeous ingenue who’s there solely to be the personification of our female protagonist’s insecurities. I would genuinely love to see someone do something different with such a role.
An Uneven Execution Derails the Storytelling
But, in the end, The Uninvited does feel a lot like watching a theatre production. I want to think that’s a meta approach, given that the revival of a show Rose had once performed in is central to the story.
In actuality, Conners had originally envisioned it as a play, and that static feeling of a stage production is evident in the direction of the film. Long scenes take place in single locations, with little intercutting among characters and places. The characters have limited arcs — this film is less about the people and more about what they’re saying.
It’s Always the Little Things That Irk
One thing I notice in a lot of films is that a health issue will be brought up exactly once for storytelling reasons, and then it’s not brought up again. The same thing happens in The Uninvited. For an elderly woman who claims, in one scene, to be in a great deal of pain, Helen is spry and keeps wandering about. You’d expect her to be, from time to time, doubled up in pain.
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In general, the trouble with The Uninvited is that it’s rife with tropes. The excitement and tensions of the first two acts dissipate in the second half of the film because so many cliches crop up. Everything from a prolonged scene of substance abuse, to the arrival of an old flame, a secret kiss, and possible secret pregnancies/abortions, it’s all in there. And it’s all been seen and done before.
I understand that Conners is critiquing show business, and tropes come from reality, but it feels tired. Any intrigue that the film began with dissolves under the final acts.
Hollywood Plays It Safe
My biggest grouse — and it has nothing to do with Reaser’s performance, and everything to do with Hollywood in general — is that it’s annoying to constantly see conventionally-sized and attractive women with flawless skin and nary a wrinkle in sight berate themselves for doing what all bodies must do, which is to change and age.
Hollywood loves to pretend that the only people suffering these insecurities about their looks, or rather, the only people deserving of suffering such insecurities, must be in all ways perfect. It’s the same problem with The Uninvited.
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I understand that this film is a specific look at a specific industry. The film industry continues to deny women reasonable roles just because of a hypothetical age limit, but that’s something that grated on me. If you watch this film, just remember that there’s a thick layer of superficiality and artificiality in what you’re watching.
Still Worth a Watch
The Uninvited is touted as a comedy-drama, but I failed to see much comedy here. It’s too intense and too angry for one to laugh, or even giggle. There’s humor in there, but it’s not laugh-out-loud funny.
Don’t be too put off by the idea that it’s a navel-gazey film about show business. Conners weaves in the issues with how superficial Hollywood — and frankly, society itself — is about women’s talents, the pressures on women, and the sexism of the film industry, beautifully into her dialogue. If it wasn’t for the tropes, this would be a solid film to watch.
The Uninvited opened in select theaters on April 11, 2025.
