A Real Pain

Late Monday afternoon, Sharon and I saw A Real Pain at the Country Club Cinema. Like when we saw Dune Part Two, we were the only people in the theater. We are continuing our annual journey to see all of the films that might be nominated for an Oscar. GoldDerby currently has A Real Pain with the eighth highest Best Picture Odds. Additionally, Kieran Culkin has the highest Best Supporting Actor odds for his role in the film.

A Real Pain is a comedy drama film, written, directed, and produced by Jesse Eisenberg. It stars Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, and Daniel Oreskes.

Two mismatched cousins, David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin), embark on a trip to Poland to honor their late grandmother and explore their Jewish heritage. As they navigate the tour group and visit historical sites, their contrasting personalities and past tensions resurface, leading to humorous and poignant moments.

After seeing Anora and Emilia Perez in the last couple of weeks, A Real Pain was a nice change of pace to a more traditional movie. Eisenberg and Culkin's performances are good. I can see both of them getting acting nominations. Overall, the film is not as good as The Holdovers was last year. While I can see it getting nominated for Best Picture, it is not going to win.