A REAL PAIN (2024)

Genre: Comedy/Drama
Director: Jesse Eisenberg
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, Daniel Oreskes 
Runtime: 1 hr 30 mins
Rating: M18 (Coarse Language & Some Drug Use)
Released By: Walt Disney
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 20 February 2025

Synopsis: Mismatched cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the odd-couple's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.

Movie Review:

Written, directed and starring Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain is both a simplistic and complicated drama.

Two Jewish cousins, David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) embark on a Holocaust tour through Poland to honor their late Grandma. Things seem rosy at first. But Benji being the unfiltered, free-spirited man child soon clashes with David, the uptight serious husband and father who reveals to their tour group that the boisterous Benji actually nearly died from overdosing six months earlier.

Shot mostly on location in Poland, A Real Pain plays like those Rick Steves European travel videos. Picturesque, warm and informative accompanied by piano music. The tour takes them and of course the audiences to Warsaw, Lublin and lastly the Majdanek concentration and extermination camp.

But the drama is not exactly the road trip movie you are expecting as Benji dominates the tour with his often thought-provoking questions, his somehow lack of mannerisms and spontaneous action with David often embarrassed by the side.

The fellow travellers in the group might be amused by Benji’s enthusiasm by posing against a Warsaw sculpture but certainly not David. And the latter certainly isn’t please with Benji confronting James (Will Sharpe), their very knowledgeable British Oxford scholar tour guide because of his aloofness when explaining the various Holocaust landmarks.

Of course, Benji isn’t totally wrong with his opinions. The road-trip dramedy is more concerned in showcasing Benji as the tortured probably depressed individual than the legacy and cultural representation of Jews. There is this dark, sinister side to Benji which even David finds hard to comprehend. All the while, David just tag along trying hard to understand his childhood friend and also cousin. Perhaps David has changed over the course of his life while the marijuana smoking Benji maintains his innocence and continues to struggle in the present.

The star performer here is Kieran Culkin who shines as a man with many faces. One second, he is running around like a five year old and the next minute, he is lamenting why they have to take the first class train while on a holocaust tour. Eisenberg plays the usual rambling, anxiety character though with a difference, there is a layered nuance side of David in which Eisenberg perfectly nails.

A Real Pain is not a movie for everyone. It’s a dynamic short story of two entirely different men. The narrative is less of a mismatched buddy comedic journey but a tale of emotion and connection. Just a reminder that it isn’t all sunshine for everyone out there, here is a story that invokes a lot of thoughts and the closing shot hints of more pain and suffering for Benji. What a heartfelt drama this is.

Movie Rating:

(There is more than just pain for this road trip across Poland)

Review by Linus Tee