What’s most impressive about Jesse Eisenberg’s ‘A Real Pain’ is that it weaves through so many genres of story without ever losing its emotional center. It’s a road trip film, a source of historical events, and even a family drama between two cousins who live vastly different lives. I’d even argue that these elements only help to strengthen how emotionally engrossing this film is. The title in itself is a double entendre, both honing into a particular character and hinting at different sources of where our anxieties can be. It could be from the daily doldrums of life, but it can also be a generational pain that we must acknowledge and reason with. Unique events happen where we can confront both within the same time frame – no matter how tough that may be. But is there a limit to looking at the world through another person’s eyes when you have so much to deal with yourself? 

Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin in A REAL PAIN. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures, © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) are cousins who used to be extremely close when they were younger, but life happened to take them in two different directions. David has a stable life with a wife, two kids, and a job in digital internet sales in New York. With Benji, let’s say things aren’t going so well for him. A character detail Eisenberg slips in at the beginning distinguishes the difference between them. Before they go on a week-long trip to Poland to see their recently deceased grandmother’s house where she grew up. Their grandmother was a Holocaust survivor, and on this trip, they booked a tour to learn more about the region’s history. Benji is at the airport for hours before they leave. This contrasts David, who likes to cross his t’s and dot his i’s. He frantically calls Benji, ensuring they meet at the airport before the designated time. David’s rigidity meets up with Benji’s fluidity. Even if so much time has passed, they both find out they each have a quality the other desires. 

Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin in A REAL PAIN. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures, © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

Once the film leaves the United States, a delicate dance is at play with the micro and micro-meditations it tackled. The way Eisenberg allows space and the fine-picked orchestral score to allow you to take everything in is exquisite. David and Benji go on this tour throughout Warsaw to learn about the city’s history at the height of World War II as a tour guide named James (played by an engaging Will Sharpe) provides the factoids and tidbits. The tour mates are rounded out by Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egiywan, Liza Sadovy, and Daniel Oreskes, who each have reasons for being there. Each of the side characters finds ways to interact with David and Benji in meaningful ways. For instance, Grey plays a recently divorcee named Marcia, whom Benji spots and can tell she “has pain in her eyes.” David is perplexed at this notion because he can’t see it. But Benji is so empathetically open with everything he’s been through; hurt people can see other hurt people. David wishes he dared to indulge in this openness and carefree attitude. However, there’s a dark side to that where David feels for him, too. 


RELATED MOVIE REVIEWS:

‘Good One’ Review: The Woods Are Full of Revelations


There’s a dichotomy in which Kieran Culkin approaches this role, which is so stunningly accurate and layered. ‘A Real Pain’ doesn’t let Benji’s character off the hook – he’s a bit of an ass and extremely blunt at inopportune times. It’s not different than the family member you get a bit of a headache from. Despite that, there’s an innate depth in how he views things other people can’t see. While at a stop at a graveyard, Benji confronts James about his tour guide style and makes sure to get across that these monuments had people and shouldn’t just be benchmarked on a map. After the group visits a concentration camp, Benji breaks down in tears while everyone else is shocked. He is unwilling to compromise in expressing his feelings – sometimes, that gets him into trouble and is commendable in other points. Culkin confidently handles this complexity in the character, making Beiji such an intriguing watch. Eisenberg also deserves his flowers, not only for the writing and directing but for delivering powerful monologues within his film.

David is very routine-oriented and often watches videos of his children to find his center. At some points, David gets out of the box he puts himself in and allows Benji’s wild side to influence him. In a film that’s so emotionally weighted, it’s fun to see. At the same time, ‘A Real Pain’ highlights that it’s okay for both of these characters to be different. They somehow have to find a way to find some common ground in the worlds they live in. 

At a tight 90 minutes, ‘A Real Pain’ is bursting with narrative intelligence and much respect for the city where the film takes place. It’s the unfortunate history of the Holocaust that is still imprinted within David and Benji and why David doesn’t give credence to his issues at large. He tosses them aside and deems his pain as “insignificant” in the light of what the world and the people who came before him had to endure. But the film teaches us that all of our experiences’ facets are valuable, and the acknowledgment of that sets us free. David and Benji love one another, but they may not return to a time when they were as close as before. Too many life experiences have happened. ‘A Real Pain’ gives them a chance to move forward, at least with the starting point of this experience as a marker.