A Real Pain (2024)

Finding ourselves, particularly the process of finding what we’ve lost about ourselves, can be an eye-opening, enlightening but sometimes-painful ordeal, especially if we’re unclear about where to look. For many of us, though, this is a challenge we often attempt to resolve by examining our past, specifically that of our family and its legacy, in hopes that it provides the answers we seek. Such is the quest embarked upon by two once-close cousins, David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin), who journey to Poland on an intimate heritage tour to visit the homestead of their beloved deceas…

Written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain sees two cousins reunite after a long period. David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) were raised together and were around each other so much growing up that they were brothers. They meet up in the present day for a Poland Holocaust tour that culminates with them visiting the house that once belonged to their grandmother. David and Benji are at two different stages of life despite being a few months apart. David has a full-time job, a wife, and a kid while Benji is single and doesn’t have a job. While David has fond memories of thei…

Good little buddy trip flick. Funny bits. Characters. Stupid tourists making life miserable for locals. Better acting than the mighty Megalopolis. Very clever title.