The comedy streak at the Sundance Film Festival continues Saturday with the world premieres of the art world satire “The Gallerist,” with Natalie Portman, and Oliva Wilde’s “The Invite,” a sharp look a crumbling marriage.
“The Invite,” debuting at the Eccles Theater in Park City, Utah, marks Wilde’s third time behind the camera and first since “Don’t Worry Darling.” Sundance programmers said that “The Invite” is a return to form for her, closer to her comedic debut “Booksmart.”
Will McCormack and Rashida Jones wrote the script for “The Invite,” in which a couple on the edge (Wilde and Seth Rogen) have their upstairs neighbors (Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton) over for dinner and what becomes a raw and revealing encounter.
Wilde has had a busy Sundance so far. On Friday night she helped debut the new Gregg Araki movie “I Want Your Sex,” in which she played an eccentric artist and sexual provocateur.
Following “The Invite” is Cathy Yan’s “The Gallerist,” starring Portman as gallerist Polina Polinski attempting to make a name for herself at Art Basel in Miami, with the help of her assistant (Jenna Ortega), when she gets involved in a plot to sell a dead body. Zach Galifianakis plays an influencer, Da’Vine Joy Randolph is an emerging artist in the starry cast, which also includes Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sterling K. Brown, Daniel Brühl and Charli xcx (in her third Sundance movie ).
The Eccles also hosted the premiere of “Wicker,” starring Olivia Colman as a sardonic fisherwoman who commissions a basketweaver to maker her a husband, played by Alexander Skarsgård, who also co-stars in the Charli xcx movie “The Moment.”
All of the films are seeking distribution at the Sundance Film Festival, which runs through Feb. 1.
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