Kind of a letdown. This four-word review sums up “A Real Pain,” a film written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, for which Kieran Culkin recently won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In this highly-acclaimed road trip film, Culkin and Eisenberg play cousins–David and Benji–who travel to Poland shortly after their grandmother’s death. Their grandmother was a Holocaust survivor, and the two join a heritage tour that retraces her past. With this premise, “A Real Pain” could have been funny and emotionally moving. Instead, it delivers only fragments of what it could have been.
To understand why, the audience should consider what makes a road trip film resonate. The most compelling ones tend to share four key elements: breathtaking scenery to keep the audience visually engaged, a core message to anchor the film, compelling supporting characters to offer contrast and new insights, and, most importantly, emotional transformations to give the journey meaning. “A Real Pain” gestures at these elements but never quite lands on them.
A film set in Europe should be full of jaw-dropping sights. Unfortunately, the audience sees none of them in “A Real Pain.” The movie begins and ends in LaGuardia Airport–better than it used to be, sure, but far from awe-inspiring. Instead of shots of old world architecture or moving vistas, the audience is stuck in bland train cars, generic hotel rooms and forgettable rooftops. Even when the cousins reach their grandmother’s hometown in Poland, the setting feels small, underwhelming and unmemorable. It seems the filmmakers deliberately avoided cinematic beauty but just ended up making things look boring.
The next key component of any road trip movie is a core message to anchor the film–something central that binds the journey together and drives the characters forward. In “A Real Pain,” the dialogue only briefly glimpses of such a message. In one conversation, David tells Benji, “If we wept for every sad thing in the world, what would that accomplish?… There’s a time and a place to grieve.” Another tour group member adds, “We numb ourselves…ignoring the proverbial slaughterhouse to enjoy the steak.” These lines introduce an interesting core message–should people constantly carry the weight of grief and the world’s suffering, or is it healthier to push those thoughts aside to enjoy life’s pleasures? This could have been a fascinating question to interrogate, one that could have provided the backbone of the film. Unfortunately, these ideas are only briefly explored in the dialogue.
Typically, successful road trip movies have compelling side characters. They usually help to lighten the heaviness in the storyline, make the audience laugh or serve as emotional foils. In “A Real Pain,” the side characters barely register. Jennifer Grey plays a muted divorcée who rarely contributes to the characters’ conversations. A senior couple from Shaker Heights adds nothing beyond mere small talk. The only interesting character, who probably should have taken on a more central role, is a Rwandan man who survived a genocide, converted to Judaism and now lives in Canada. His story has real depth, but the film barely gives him any screen time. These side characters could have expanded the story’s emotional depth.
Finally, there is no payoff in the cousins’ character development. The title, “A Real Pain,” has a clever double meaning. Benji is both emotionally wounded and occasionally insufferable. The audience gets hints of his mental health struggles and his close relationship with his late grandmother. But none of this builds toward any real catharsis. For example, even at the height of the story arc, when the cousins reach their final destination–the grandmother’s home–nothing really happens. David and Benji attempt to place two stones there as a mark of respect, only to be told by Polish neighbors to remove them because they pose a safety hazard. David and Benji’s relationship does not deepen. The film essentially ends as it began.
Culkin’s Oscar acceptance speech was more moving than most moments in this movie. He was brilliant in “Succession.” Eisenberg was unforgettable in “The Social Network.” Together, the film could have been magnetic, witty and emotionally raw. Instead, the film tried to be profound while avoiding vulnerability. “A Real Pain” is a real letdown.
