Well, gosh, Jesse Eisenberg, congratulations. You made the second best movie about a mismatched Anglo pair searching for their Holocaust roots in Poland in 2024. Is Poland the new Brian Cox? I went years without discussing the former Soviet satellite nation; and now I’ve seen a half-dozen films set in Poland just this year. What gives? Did the holocaust suddenly become public domain?
Two Jekyll and Hyde cousins are taking on Poland: In this corner, writer/director/co-star Jesse Eisenberg portrays himself as exactly the kind of guy he loves to play: stuffy, anal, reserved, a constant sufferer of secondhand embarrassment, and one who holds a black belt in passive aggression. In the red corner is Benji (Kieran Culkin), playing exactly the character he loves to play – outspoken, uninhibited, and as likely a party to inspire passive aggression as one will ever find.
Dave (Eisenberg) and Benji have been willed money by their recently deceased grandmother to visit her Polish roots. This is a taller order than first glance as Nana was a holocaust survivor. So finding her roots means visiting the literal stomping grounds of Nazi Germany. And whom did they stomp on? Polish Jews like Nana. So A Real Pain is, essentially, a buddy road pic … with fleeting thoughts of Judaism and Nazis and mass genocide. Not the worst premise. If only it hadn’t been done already. This year.
This film itself fluctuates constantly between contrived controversy and genuine “you’re getting on my nerves” stuff. Benji is the kind of roommate who takes your iphone to the bathroom while he showers. He’s also the kind of companion who feels at all times like you’re either making too much or too little of the situation, which must be infuriating. OTOH, Dave is exactly the kind of person who takes offense at little things, but never tells you he’s offended, hence, every controversy might well be rooted in truth.
I -more-or-less enjoyed this film, but it felt awfully redundant. We just s
aw Treasure earlier this year, a film which couldn’t be more similar were it a prequel. And even if we hadn’t seen treasure, we have seen The Zone of Interest, which may lack for after-the-fact irascible companions, but gave us a whole lot of holocaust to think about already. Nothing in this film feels like new ground, which is a shame since Jesse Eisenberg seems to make a decent new-ish director. Maybe he needs another holocaust.
Two grandsons of a holocaust survivor
Went to Poland and hired a driver
To tour the old grounds
Where Nazis made rounds
And every effort was made to deprive her
Rated R, 90 Minutes
Director: Jesse Eisenberg
Writer: Jesse Eisenberg
Genre: Polish dogs
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Holocaust survivors with annoying relatives
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who do not invite stress into their lives
