A Real Pain
★ ★ ½
Cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) are meeting at the airport to fly to Poland to take a tour of where their grandmother used to live. They haven’t seen one another since she passed, and she left them both money to take this trip together. These cousins are more like brothers, growing up close together in childhood but drifting apart in adulthood.
David has settled down with a family. Benji lives at home with his mother and has yet to find his place in the world. David is a planner; he wants to make sure that they stay on track during the tour and often has to apologize for Benji, who presents himself with a pompous world view despite having few life skills.
Will Sharpe leads Kieran Culkin, Jennifer Grey, Jesse Eisenberg, Kurt Egyiawan and Daniel Oreskes on the tour
© 2024 Searchlight Pictures
Also on the tour is James (Will Sharpe), the tour guide, who does his best to keep his guests entertained and informed – despite Benji’s constant disruptions. The rest of the tour is comprised of: recent divorcee, Marsha (Jennifer Grey); older couple Mark (Daniel Oreskes) and Diane (Liza Sadovy); and African-born Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan), who has recently converted to Judaism.
Once the tour is underway, this becomes a road trip of sorts with important stops along the way that highlight Jewish history, most specifically relating to World War II.
Sadly, it’s also quite boring.
Even with a fantastic performance by Eisenberg and a breakout performance by Culkin, this is a story about two bickering cousins that never gets off the ground. Rather than serving as poignant reminders of their Jewish heritage, the tour stops mostly provide Benji opportunities to be a rude disruptor.
Jennifer Grey as Marsha
© 2024 Searchlight Pictures
When we get close to the deep-dive character study between these cousins, the story pulls away and fails to give us more than a surface connection.
This feels like an art-house film that we’re supposed to like and tell people how great it is without really knowing why. If it weren’t for the strong performances by Culkin, Eisenberg and supporting cast, this would be more insufferable than stale.
Jesse Eisenberg as David and Kieran Culkin as Benji on the tour
© 2024 Searchlight Pictures
‘A Real Pain’ is full of great characters and wonderful actors within a wooden story. Despite its attempts to be relevant, the film left an empty feeling in the end.
The real pain in this film is that it could have been so much more.
Rated: Rated R for language throughout and some drug use.
Running Time: 1h 29m
Directed by: Jesse Eisenberg
Written by: Jesse Eisenberg
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin,Kurt Egyiawan, Daniel Oreskes, Jennifer Grey, Emma Stone, Liza Sadovy
Comedy, Drama
