Some indie films confound the viewer with a “What did these actors see in THIS?” connundrum. But not “The Uninvited.”

What looks like another onanistic Hollywood-skewers-Hollywood dramedy set in a tony Hollywood Hills party is actually a priorities-questioning, expectations-upending and surprisingly sentimental look at the 115 year-old Dream Factory and where even the young, the celebrated and the beautiful wind up when their moment in the sun has set.

First-time feature director Nadia Conners’ often sparkling and occasionally poignant script and the simple proximity of its setting ensured she’d land talent of the Pedro Pascal, Elizabeth Reaser, Walton Goggins and Rufus Sewell caliber. They were more than happy to play the Hollywood “types” whose take-stock moment is either confronted or avoided when a confused little old lady pulls her Prius up to the front gate.

A Hollywood agent (Goggins) and his actress-wife (Reaser) are prepping for a “fancy party” of his friends and clients, built around one who is more important than everybody else.

A bartender’s on duty. A “Spirit Photographer,” who ties into a just-finished film and a recent Hollywood fad, is here to capture everybody’s “aura.” Rose (Reaser), whose reputation was made on the stage, is dolling up for the one thing she’s been “good at” since giving up her career for marriage and raising their little boy, Wilder — “performing” the role of partygoer. And Sammy (Goggins) is scrambling to perfect his look and bracing himself to make a pitch to key client Gerald (Sewell), who has made them both rich and famous with some franchise he’s starred in.

Gerald might have the sexy starlet Delia (Eva De Dominici) on his arm, and that might further complicate a party where a big star (Pascal) who used to be Rose’s beau has also RSVP’d.

And then the 90something Helen shows up, someone who is still driving but certain that she “lives here” and who can’t understand why the gate won’t open for her. Screen veteran Lois Smith, a familiar face with over 150 credits from “East of Eden” to “Lady Bird” to “Law & Order” gives Helen a sauciness that comes and goes with her lucidity.

Does her license say Helen Hale?

“For goodness sakes, stop shouting my STAGE name!”

Rose talks to her, gets her to surrender her purse long enough to get that “STAGE name,” and finds an aged address book. A make-or-break party will begin at any moment, and she won’t finished getting dressed out of compassion, concern and a need to get this “problem” out the door for her husband’s big night.

“Call the police,” Sammy distractedly snaps over his shoulder. But Rose has “another stray,” “another project,” he fears. She’s taken an interest and wants to see that this 90something gets “home,” even if she thinks “home” is still at this address.

Helen? The babysitter thinks “she’s a witch.” Sammy considers her “some grave inconvenience.” But the nicely-turned-out little old lady has a few choice words for him, too.

“You swear too much. It cheapens life!” “You’re so angry. It will be the death of you!”

But Helen is just an occasional observer and commentator on the night, where Sammy will face his fears and test the waters of Big Change waters with his wife and his biggest client, where Rose will face the temptation of an old love, a recovering alcoholic all about “making amends,” and where their indulged, scene-stealing little boy (Roland Rubio) will warm to the grandmotherly old woman and insist Mommy tell him the same magical glowfish story she repeats every night

Not every direction taken here surprises, delights or touches. But more than a few do as characters take stock, sober up to unpleasant realities or decide to keep running, networking, drinking and snorting to avoid a reckoning that anyone paying attention is staring them in the face of a stooped and failing old woman sitting on their sofa.

Reaser, a fixture of the “Twilight” movies and most dazzling in the indie “Sweetland,” anchors this cast. But Goggins gives new shades to his unfiltered “Vice Principals” a-hole-in-the-room persona. De Dominici walks a fine line between striving starlet and young woman just figuring out how Hollywood turns “young” into “old” in a blink the length of Rose’s once-promising career.

Sewell is amusingly insufferable and Pascal delights in sending up the “type” a “hot” actor like him could become, if he lets his guard down.

And writer-director Conners makes the most of her good fortune in casting. She has Smith be the grandmotherly gravitas at the center of this quiet storm, wise with her years and so old she’s aged into the truth teller so many need to hear, with only a couple daring to listen.

Rating: R, drug abuse, profanity

Cast: Elizabeth Reaser, Walton Goggins, Pedro Pascal, Rufus Sewell, Eva De Dominici and Lois Smith.

Credits: Scripted and directed by Nadia Conners. A Foton Pictures release.

Running time: 1:37