Ep1046: A REAL PAIN (2024) - Movie Review
It's been a rough year for Ian and David's one-on-one reviews of streaming movies--but they've finally cracked the code!
Writer/director/star Jesse Eisenberg's sophomore effort, A Real Pain, is now in theaters and the guys actually ventured out to the cineplex to watch it together. The result is a hard-hitting and wide-ranging conversation about one of 2024's very best films.
Eisenberg plays David, a New York Internet ads salesman who accompanies his cousin, Benji (Kieran Culkin), on a trip to Poland as a memorial to their recently deceased grandmother. They spend most of their journey on a Holocaust tour, where Benji's manic-depressive episodes lead to awkwardness, confrontations, and disruptions both comedic and tragicomic.
In this spoiler-lite episode, the guys talk about the fine balance Eisenberg and company achieve in creating a deliberate Awards Season Darling that breaks through with frequent moments of un-movielike authenticity--and, as it turns out, is actually worth leaving the house for!
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Show Links
Watch the A Real Pain (2024) trailer.
Follow David Fowlie's film criticism at Keeping It Reel.
Plus! Listen to Ian and David's other recent (and very raucous) reviews of:
Rebel Ridge (2024)
Duchess (2024)
