A Real Pain begins with a good premise - two cousins receive money from their late grandmother's estate to visit her hometown and the concentration camp she survived growing up in Poland. Jesse Eisenberg sets the tone as David Kaplan, leaving message after message to his cousin Benji, played by Kieran Culkin. Benji pays no attention to social cues, changes moods easily, speaks without a filter, and often charms everyone except his type A cousin. Ultimately the two blow up, make up, and come to a new understanding of family and their relationship. At times A Real Pain reminds me of Sideways, another story of mismatched friends. Sideways did it better. You may hear that Kierin Culkin - fresh off his success in Succession - steals the show. He certainly tries. I got tired of Culkin's act. I finished this 90-minute story weary. One extra note, Eisenberg sneaks in Jennifer Grey as a divorced woman on the tour. It's nice to see her again.
