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There’s nothing that puts a relationship to the test quite like a week of traveling together. And in the buddy dramedy A Real Pain, a couple of completely incompatible cousins find their relationship tested while on a meaningful adventure through Poland.
A Real Pain joins David and Benji Kaplan (Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin) on a Heritage Tour of Poland. Ever since the death of their beloved grandmother, free-spirited Benji has been struggling—so stable, responsible David agreed to take a week away from his job and his family to travel with his cousin to the place where their grandmother lived before the war. But these two cousins have very different lives—and personalities—and as soon as they meet up with their tour group to set out on what promises to be an emotional journey, their differences become painfully obvious.
As the cousins tour Jewish communities and visit important landmarks with their tour group, David struggles with Benji’s ever-changing moods. Benji can be incredibly charming and lovable, but he has no filter. He tends to say and do things that are completely inappropriate—and he can fly off in a rage for no apparent reason—leaving his long-suffering cousin to apologize to those he’s hurt or offended. Benji is an incredibly complicated character—one who’s not always easy to like—but Kieran Culkin puts in a strong performance, taking the character through one mood swing to the next while making it all feel completely believable.
Thanks, in part, to Benji and his unpredictable behavior—but also due to the nature of the tour and the places the cousins visit throughout the week—this film takes viewers on an emotional rollercoaster. At times, Benji’s strange outbursts can make it outrageously funny—or extremely uncomfortable—but then the tour group’s visits to monuments and a German concentration camp take the mood in a completely different direction. And the overall effect can be incredibly jarring. Viewers will never really know where the story is heading—and even when it ends, it all feels rather aimless and ambiguous. It’s an entertaining and often moving dramedy about family relationships, but it’s all a little uncertain in the end.
Like lovably impulsive Benji, A Real Pain can be unpredictable. It takes audiences on an emotional journey with these characters—but (also like Benji) it may leave viewers feeling a little off-balance and unsure of what just happened.
As A Real Pain continues to expand to theaters across the country, check your local listings to see if it’s playing near you.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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