Road pictures have always been a reliable mini-genre at the box office. In the last year alone we’ve had DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS, THE BIKERIDERS, WILL & HARPER…heck, even FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA could be qualified as such a thing, no? Now, along comes A REAL PAIN, written, directed by, and starring Jesse Eisenberg. The director employs many of the tried and true tropes we’ve come to expect from the genre, but Eisenberg pushes the comedic ‘odd couple on a journey’ narrative farther to a place much more serious. It makes for a film filled with laughs, sure, but also one brimming with pathos and gravitas.
Eisenberg plays David Kaplan, a kind and serious businessman, husband, and father, who reunites with his cousin Benji Kaplan (Kieran Culkin) to take a Holocaust tour together in Poland. Their beloved grandmother has recently passed, and as a little girl, she survived the concentration camps before moving to America. It’s a heavy trip, for sure, but Eisenberg’s clever script finds a way to make the trek funny starting with the wild card that is Benji. As road pictures dictate, he is quite the opposite of David – free-spirited, spontaneous, and undisciplined. Benji is that man/child we all know with few filters. He can be the life of the party, but as erratic as a child. Thus, he and David clash, especially as Benji chides David for being a tight-ass.
Nonetheless, there is a decades-old bond there and they make a good go of it with the group. Their fellow travelers include the British tour guide James (Will Sharpe), recent divorcee Marcia (Jennifer Grey), retired couple Mark and Diane (Daniel Oreskes and Lisa Sadovoy), and Jewish convert Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan). James is a very knowledgeable host if a bit cool and detached. Benji urges him, and the others, to embrace the ‘real pain’ of touring the Holocaust landmarks and feel it more than just observe it as ancient history.
All this angst makes David uncomfortable, and as the tour plays out the clash between cousins becomes more and more, while also deepening as they learn more and more about the Holocaust and their grandmother’s youth. There are plenty of LOL set-pieces, but what’s most impressive is the darker parts of the story, including those involving the cousins’ pasts. Both men are forced to engage in some genuine soul-searching and the movie might be as cathartic for filmgoers watching it as it is for the two leads playing it.
Both Eisenberg and Culkin are terrific, with the latter brilliantly balancing charm and rancor. Eisenberg gives a shrewd performance too, peeling away more and more of his character each moment to reveal the very deep emotions David has suppressed. The two have great chemistry together too and at times play like a veteran comedy duo who know each other’s rhythms like it’s part of their DNA.
Eisenberg makes the most of a slew of European locations and gets smart and clever performances out of his entire cast. His script has rich dialogue throughout and sprinkled in are some heavy monologues that would be the envy of any stage dramatist today. A REAL PAIN doesn’t shirk from suggesting that most of us need to get in touch with our feelings and personal histories as well. It all makes for a truly worthy trip to the Cineplex to laugh and cry with a full, appreciative audience.