A Real Pain

by Mike McGranaghan

A Real Pain introduces us to two cousins. David Kaplan (Jesse Eisenberg) is an emotionally bottled-up husband and father who works selling ad banners online. Benji Kaplan (Kieran Culkin) is the life of the party one minute, a ball of depression and anxiety the next. When their beloved Jewish grandmother dies, the relatives decide to take a tour of Poland to pay their respects, but also to understand the series of tragic events that forced her from her homeland.

This isn’t so much a movie about what happens as it is about how things happen. Benji makes efforts to befriend the rest of the tourist group, especially divorcee Marcia (Jennifer Grey), yet also occasionally alienates everyone with his moody antics. David swings back and forth between enjoying his cousin’s company and feeling disconnected from him. They bond best when sharing a joint on the roof of whatever hotel they’re staying at on any given night, where the tensions from their past can be smoked away.

Eisenberg also wrote and directed, following up his impressive debut When You Finish Saving the World. He does something interesting with A Real Pain, namely taking a subject that isn’t funny, treating it seriously, then putting comedy around the edges. That subject is Jewish identity. The men have differing views on their status as descendants of a Holocaust survivor. David believes in trying to build a good life, one that allows him to move the family lineage in a more positive direction. Benji isn’t so sure about that. He wonders if it’s okay to enjoy life when his ancestors experienced so much anguish. The film’s best scene finds them touring a concentration camp. The looks on their faces speaks volumes to the weight both carry.

While always being respectful of the matter at the center, the movie finds humor in Benji’s unpredictable hijinks and David’s bewildered reactions to them. Kieran Culkin is incredible as Benji, convincingly veering between manic energy and palpable inner melancholy. He makes the character a guy who rarely shuts up because, if he did, he would become too aware of his own misery. Eisenberg nicely balances him out with a performance that never fails to convey the conflicted emotions David has toward his cousin. Listening to the two of them banter yields frequent laughs.

In fact, the actors are so good that it makes me wish the picture had pushed things a little further. Take off the end credits and A Real Pain runs 82 minutes. Room exists to expand on the fragmented history between the cousins, as well as to more fully develop the supporting players, several of whom have some kind of impact on the familial relationship. What’s onscreen is undoubtedly pleasing; certain scenes just end right at the point where they’re beginning to reveal additional depth.

It may not maximize its emotional punch, but the movie still exudes intelligence and wit. Those qualities ensure that it’s rewarding to watch.

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