As my time at the festival drew to a close, I still had several films on my “must-see” list with high expectations. While Josephine had already set a remarkably high bar, I was unprepared for Olivia Wilde to effectively hijack the festival and steal the spotlight from everyone else.
I Want Your Sex
When Elliott, an unassuming intern, is propositioned to become the sexual muse for avant-garde artist Erika Tracy, his wildest fantasies quickly pale in comparison to his new reality. Director Gregg Araki’s over-the-top exploration of millennial sex lives is funny, erotic, and sharply self-aware.
Led by Cooper Hoffman as the out-of-his-depth Elliott and Olivia Wilde as the self-absorbed Erika, the film is a hilarious ride full of genuine surprises. As Erika pushes Elliott’s boundaries further, the film begs the question: is obsession or power the real art on display? While Hoffman is excellent, Wilde’s performance as the controlling, sexually explicit mentor is worth every second of screen time. The script is tight, the pacing is relentless, and hilarious supporting turns from Mason Gooding and Daveed Diggs add that perfect “little something extra.”
The Musical
When a dorky middle-school theater teacher is dumped by a beautiful art teacher for their “hunky” principal, your first instinct might be to expect a revenge plot. For this teacher, however, it’s all about the “secrets of the theater.” This dark comedy stars Will Brill, Gillian Jacobs, and Rob Lowe as the teacher, the ex-girlfriend, and the principal, respectively.
Doug (Brill), a failed playwright turned teacher, decides the best way to spite Principal Brady (Lowe) is to sabotage the school’s chances at a prestigious district award—and the school musical is the deciding factor. While the principal expects West Side Story, Doug secretly convinces the students to perform his own avant-garde play about “the machine.” The film starts strong but becomes increasingly messy in the second act before completely going off the rails in the third. That said, it’s still worth the watch for Rob Lowe’s hilarious turn as a toxic, ego-driven principal. The real reason to stay, however, is to see the middle-schoolers’ performance; it was offensive enough to cause a few walkouts in my screening, but I stayed until the end, practically in tears from laughing.
The Invite
If I Want Your Sex hadn’t already made Olivia Wilde the queen of Sundance, her double duty as director and star of The Invite certainly cemented it. Wilde, Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penélope Cruz star as two neighboring couples in a San Francisco apartment complex. Joe and Angela (Rogen and Wilde) are hitting a rough patch, so Angela invites their upstairs neighbors, Hawk and Pina, over for dinner to “spice things up.”
Rogen and Wilde have immediate chemistry, delivering sharp, witty dialogue that occasionally feels a little too real to be funny. Once Norton and Cruz arrive, the evening takes a turn for the awkward and hilarious. However, once the third act kicks in, the tone shifts so rapidly you almost don’t realize what’s happened. The laughter stops, replaced by an emotional pivot that tugs hard at the heartstrings. Cleverly shot entirely within a single apartment and carried by just four cast members, The Invite proves Wilde is a powerhouse both behind and in front of the camera.
Looking back at the final Sundance in Park City, there was a constant feeling that the community was saying goodbye to a close friend. Change is intimidating; many regulars claimed this would be their last year, while others were already looking forward to a new adventure in Boulder. Regardless of where you stand, the 2026 edition provided a beautiful final send-off for film lovers in the mountains of Utah.
My Top Five of the Fest:
- The Invite
- Josephine
- I Want Your Sex
- Buddy
- Broken English