A Real Pain: Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg star in 'uproariously funny' drama
The film, dubbed an heir of Woody Allen, follows Jewish American cousins who travel to Poland in memory of their late grandmother

"Jesse Eisenberg has said that he was inspired to write 'A Real Pain' after coming across an online advert promoting tours of the concentration camp Auschwitz, with lunch included," said Brian Viner in the Daily Mail.
"He has parlayed that darkly comic irony" – the shrieking dissonance between the monumental evil implied by the word Auschwitz, "and the lush comforts of modern-day tourism – into a truly wonderful film": "A Real Pain" is "uproariously funny", "achingly sad and excruciatingly well observed". Eisenberg (who also directs) plays David, a Jewish New Yorker whose grandmother left money in her will for him and his cousin Benji (Kieran Culkin) to visit Poland, where she narrowly escaped death in a concentration camp.
Although the pair were once close, they have very different personalities: David is anxious and introspective, while Benji is charismatic and unpredictable, a free spirit who is unable to hold down a job. The film has "oodles" of heart and tenderness, and recalls the best work of Woody Allen. It is, in sum, "a small masterpiece".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"A road movie that is partly about the Holocaust and about America's third-generation attempt at coming to terms with it", "A Real Pain" is a triumph, agreed Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. "Effortlessly witty, fluent and astringent", it strikes "a cool, sauntering tonal balance" between the "trivial and the world-historically important", and both Eisenberg and Culkin are "excellent".
The film pulls off the difficult trick of being "ruefully perceptive and laugh-out-loud funny, often at the same time", said Tim Robey in The Telegraph. "It also presents characters with issues we grow to understand, and doesn't set about artificially 'fixing' them: how refreshing."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
5 hawkish cartoons about Pete Hegseth's meeting of military muscle
Cartoons Artists take on fat generals, bravery medals, and more
-
Why are American conservatives clashing with Pope Leo?
Talking Points Comments on immigration and abortion draw backlash
-
9 haunted hotels where things definitely go bump in the night
The Week Recommends Don’t fear these spirited spots. Embrace them.
-
Susie Dent picks her favourite books
The Week Recommends The lexicographer and etymologist shares works by Jane Goodall, Noel Streatfeild and Madeleine Pelling
-
6 incredible homes under $1 million
Feature Featuring a home in the National Historic Landmark District of Virginia and a renovated mid-century modern house in Washington
-
The Harder They Come: ‘triumphant’ adaptation of cinema classic
The Week Recommends ‘Uniformly excellent’ cast follow an aspiring musician facing the ‘corruption’ of Kingston, Jamaica
-
House of Guinness: ‘rip-roaring’ Dublin brewing dynasty period drama
The Week Recommends The Irish series mixes the family tangles of ‘Downton’ and ‘Succession’ for a ‘dark’ and ‘quaffable’ watch
-
Dead of Winter: a ‘kick-ass’ hostage thriller
The Week Recommends Emma Thompson plays against type in suspenseful Minnesota-set hair-raiser ‘ringing with gunshots’
-
A Booker shortlist for grown-ups?
Talking Point Dominated by middle-aged authors, this year’s list is a return to ‘good old-fashioned literary fiction’
-
Fractured France: an ‘informative and funny’ enquiry
The Week Recommends Andrew Hussey's work is a blend of ‘memoir, travelogue and personal confession’
-
Art review: Sixties Surreal
Feature Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, through Jan. 19