A huge step up for Eisenberg as a director.

| Apr 17, 2025

Eisenberg’s script is observant and whip-smart, but it only works as well as it does because the actors he has cast perform their roles with such thought and delicacy

| Original Score: 8/10 | Apr 13, 2025

a serio-comic film of genuine depth, nuance, and humanity that asks hard questions in a meaningful way

| Original Score: 4/4 | Apr 1, 2025

These nice boys in their nice movie made me miss Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, and Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, in their talky two-handers.

| Mar 4, 2025

Eisenberg, especially as a screenwriter, shines here. A Real Pain is impressively balanced as it changes tone, style, and necessary reveals effortlessly.

| Original Score: A- | Feb 26, 2025

[Eisenberg] keeps crafting deeply felt features that resound with raw emotion, and that leave viewers feeling like they could walk right into them.

| Feb 25, 2025

A subtle film that, without making itself noticed, slowly carves its way into the viewer’s heart, likely leaving a mark for a long time. This is ultimately possible thanks to its thematic richness and the sensitivity with which it articulates its ideas.

| Feb 22, 2025

[Keiran Culkin] is remarkable from the opening scene to the final moment.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 21, 2025

A hilarious, insightful road movie that is buoyed by two excellent, contrasting performances.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Feb 21, 2025

A Real Pain never preaches about its themes, even though Benji's boastfulness lent itself to that. The dialogues are revealing of the contrasting personalities of the two cousins, and that is the source of the film's humor. [Full review in Spanish]

| Feb 9, 2025

The film places [a few] very critical questions on contemporary societies, especially within the spheres of privilege through Benji's gaze…[Full review in Spanish]

| Feb 9, 2025

It’s more character study than dramatic odyssey, a restrained, low-key road movie that touches on loss, generational trauma, and the legacy of the Holocaust without trying to make it the focus.

| Feb 8, 2025

Benji is a real pain, no question about it. But THE real pain rests elsewhere.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 5, 2025

A Real Pain is one of those experiences that leads us to dedicate time thinking, pondering, asking ourselves questions and sharing...the game of putting ourselves in the characters' shoes or putting ourselves in their own shoes. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 5, 2025

With an unwavering look at the power of family and grief, this dramedy invites us to find our place, no matter how painful it may be. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 5, 2025

Eisenberg mostly repeats his usual tricks both in front and behind the camera, but Culkin’s explosive, devastating performance carries A Real Pain.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 5, 2025

Eisenberg crafts a poignant tribute to history's tragedies while celebrating the present, showcasing his exceptional writing and filmmaking skills.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 4, 2025

The frustration, narratively speaking, is a real pain indeed.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 4, 2025

A Real Pain is comedy, it's drama, and it's a great movie full of genuine emotions. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 2, 2025

Director Jesse Eisenberg masterfully navigates the treacherous terrain of historical trauma and familial dysfunction, balancing sardonic humour with piercing solemnity... The result is a film as uncomfortably awkward as it is disarmingly poignant.

| Original Score: 3.5/ 5 | Jan 31, 2025