A One Mann’s Movies review of “A Real Pain” (2024) (From the 2024 London Film Festival).
Oh my. This first week of press screenings at the LFF is throwing up some gems, and no more so than this soulful and hilarious offering, written and directed by and starring Jesse Eisenberg.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“A Real Pain” Plot Summary:
David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) are cousins but very, very different from each other. They travel to Poland as part of a sightseeing tour to learn more about their heritage but also to pay tribute to the house in which their dear and recently departed grandma Dory used to live.
Certification:
UK: NR; US: R. (This has not yet been rated by the BBFC. I would expect it to be a ’15’ based on strong language and a suicide theme.)
Talent:
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Daniel Oreskes, Liza Sadovy, Kurt Egyiawan, Jennifer Grey.
Directed by: Jesse Eisenberg.
Written by: Jesse Eisenberg.
Running Time: 1h 30m.
“A Real Pain” Summary:
Positives:
- Smashes through the 6-laughs test. Some really great comedy moments.
- Both Eisenberg and Culkin deliver pitch-perfect performances.
- The Holocaust isn’t funny…. and the film never makes it so.
Negatives:
- OK… so Culkin is re-hashing Roman Roy.
Review of “A Real Pain”:
A comedic delight.
From the first five minutes you get the comedic feel of the movie. David (Jesse Eisenberg) demonstrating his OCD, fretting on the phone to his cousin that Benji (Kieran Culkin) might be late getting to the airport while Benji has already been sat there for hours! (Because Benji loves sitting in airports: “You meet so many f**king interesting people here” he says.)
This is “The Odd Couple” on tour. David is stressy, easily embarrassed (not a stretch role for him!): a details man but with cute feet; Benji is extrovert, assertive, charming, unpredictable and often doesn’t give a shit about what he says and to who he says it to. David is terrified when Benji says they’ll have some top-class weed to smoke when they get there, terrified and twitching as they go through the US airport security and scared of what happens if the Warsaw authorities find him smuggling it in. “What?” scoffs Benji “They’re going to arrest two Jews in Poland for a bit of weed. Yeah, like that’s a good look!”
The straight men.
A good comedy needs a foil for Benji to fence with and Eisenberg’s clever script delivers this with the tour group, led by the fact-ridden Brit James (Will Sharpe). On the tour there’s Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan), a Rwandan genocide victim now converted to Judaism; Mark (Daniel Oreskes) and Diane (Liza Sadovy), an older couple from Shaker Heights; and Marcia (Jennifer Grey), an attractive divorcee from Brooklyn.
Benji makes his mark on the group early on by making them all join in the reenactment of a battle scene with a Warsaw statue (a terrific scene). Benji tries to bond with Marcia: “Why are you walking alone? Are you some big f**king loser?!”, always getting away with it through lashings of charm. (Perhaps he does more than ‘bond’ one night… it’s made delightfully vague.) David on the other hand is constantly apologising: “I’m so sorry” is like a Woody pull-string voice-box for him.
A loving but stressed relationship.
It’s comedy but it’s also drama. Core to this is the stressed relationship between David and Benji. In an “over-sharing” scene (great acting by Eisenberg), David confesses to both love and hate his cousin. He rants at Benji, jealous of his charisma: “You light up a room and then shit on everyone inside of it”.
Sometimes love and hate go hand in hand and everyone needs a good slap now and again!
Benji? In a Concentration Camp? “Brace, brace”
As a part of their tour, they visit the Majdanek concentration camp just outside the scenic city of Lublin. I had known this was coming for the whole film and was dreading it. I thought “this is really where Eisenberg could throw the whole film away”. But I need not have worried. The sequence is quiet, respectful, delivered without any joking around and deeply, deeply moving. Bravo.
A subsequent scene where David and Benji leave the group behind is also moving. “We’ve become like some weird f**ked up family” Benji states.
The subsequent visit to Grandma’s house is, perhaps, a bit underwhelming after what’s gone on before, but it is still entertaining enough.
Can you have too much Roman?
Let’s not kid ourselves, Benji is a lightly re-skinned version of Roman Roy from “Succession”, but without his love of money (“Money is like f**king heroin for boring people”). But who doesn’t love the anarchic Roman? Can you ever get too much of him? I don’t think so! This could have been retitled “Roman Holiday: Poland” and been the first of a highly watchable franchise (“Roman Holiday: Thailand”; “Roman Holiday: Egypt”; etc). I’d go to watch them all!
Triggers
Things which might be triggering for some viewers are a suicide theme and, of course, the Holocaust references. Though I will stress again that the latter is done with great sensitivity.
Summary Thoughts on “A Real Pain”
This is a stone cold classic, and – yes – it received another spontaneous round of applause from the assembled press and media audience. I joined them… I loved it.
“A Real Pain” is released in the US on November 1st but we have to wait until January 10th to see it here in the UK. When it does release, go and see it – you won’t be disappointed.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “A Real Pain”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYPJIOF0ys4 .
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