I am so glad I passed on this movie and streamed this. I thought this was going to be pretty good to great but kierran culkins character was annoying obnoxious and unkind. I mean a character like this can be fun and likeable..i think john candy nailed the lovable guy that was an extravert. Kirrens charecter portrays a terrible person I mean a real me time jerk. There was 3 min of visiting a haulocaust site..but it was so brief it's barely poinent. If your looking for a jerk filled movie where 1 guy dominates and ruins a groups trip and that's your type of movie than this is for you. There is nothing interesting that happens in this movie except the 3 min holocaust trip. The best part of this movie is how short it is..and at the end the cousin bonding was nil. The fact this was nominated for an award was baffling. I hope this review helps someone. I want my hour and 33min back.

Led by masterful performances from its two leads (particularly Kieran Culkin), A Real Pain doesn't captivate me fully in its story and i wasn't as emotionally connected as i would have wanted, but this is nevertheless a sharp and intelligent dramedy that looks great and handles themes of mental health, trauma and legacy with powerful insight.

Dear Jesse, Thank you so much! Your work, A Real Pain, is truly remarkable. I’ve visited some of those places in Poland on a guided tour, and I deeply appreciate the way you chose to portray them. There was a sense of truth and delicacy in how you presented both the landscapes and the emotional terrain. What struck me most were the dynamics between the brothers. I felt there were many subtle allegories there. The characters and the way others respond to them — it all felt so thoughtfully observed. I personally relate very closely to David’s character. People like me often encounter people like Benji in life. We tend to process things internally, yet are deeply attuned to others’ emotions. Our pain is no less real, it’s just turned inward. Benji, on the other hand, expresses everything so outwardly — he’s vivid, and centered in his own experience. In my family, along with the tragedy of the Holocaust, we also carry the trauma of the Siege of Leningrad. My grandfather was taken for forced labor — they’re all gone now, but on special days, you remember them. And there are “stones,” too, to keep their memory alive. Thank you again for your beautiful, honest film. Warm regards, Iren Elinson

Awful - just couldn't care less what happens to the characters. It tries to be serious, but fails. Maybe too deep for me, but I just didn't engage with the actors at all.

This is a very heartfelt movie that is well done throughout.

I really enjoyed this film. I felt so confused about Benji, he's so loveable but then is an absolute firecracker, and then David has to somehow try to pull him back in. All of the characters were loveable and I would have loved to hear more about their own personal stories. It's a feel good movie with slight discomforts, not necessarily bad discomforts though. It really makes you think about life and history.

I wish Kieran Culkin would have been honored for another part. Yes, he portraits the self absorbed annoying American greatly, but the characters have no depth, there's nothing and no one to root for and no reason to follow the stroy at all. Jesse Eisenberg seems to write the same stories and same characters over and over again and keeps playing them the same way. It's just dull and annoying and soulles and most of all: not funny. Not even a little bit. If anything it's depressing. I gave up after half of the movie.

That this is certified fresh, boggles my mind. Haven’t seen such a superficial movie in a long time. Please avoid.

Except for the needlessly profane script (F and S words galore), this is a must-see film. Touching, moving all the way. And, to my surprise, a beautiful vista of modern day Poland -- incredibly beautiful!

It is pretty stunning that such an unremarkable, boring movie won an Oscar...for anything! But make a holocaust movie and Hollywood will reward you. Why is that?

A Real Disappointment.

Smart and well acted, but slow - even dragging at places - and less fun than I had hoped for a holocaust movie.

Didnt have high expectations but it turned out it was a pleasant watch - interesting depiction of two opposite personalities

A good buddy comedy movie and it was so fun and good adventure film to watch!!!.

Beautiful movie. Finds a great balance between deep emotional connections and light hearted comedy. A true display of the love between two family members despite there alternative life paths and differences in personalities.

Maybe my favorite film of the year. Filmed beautifully, stunningly acted and ultimately moving. I get so tired of all the noise and glitz in modern day films. It was refreshing to see and feel something REAL about the human condition.

This is a film about 2 cousins going to Poland on holiday with classical music in the background. Nothing more nothing less. It tries to make itself seem interesting by discussing the holocaust and mental illness but comes off as disingenuous and dull.

Very weak in my view in that the core premise of the relationship was the cousins had the introvert / extrovert differences and the extrovert was apparently able to light up a room. Unfortunately for me Benji (Kieran Culkin) was just an irritating American 100% of the time with only perhaps a 3mins segment on screen where he organised a fun statue photo moment. I was not convinced the screenplay and acting gave the character time to explore that lighting up substance and so the whole thing felt flat and basic to me with very little to invest emotional connections with the characters. I was left feeling I missed the train stop on this one and drifted through the lacklustre story.

This is bookended so well. Why is someone a real pain and why do they feel real pain.? The two cousins bicker and joke in realistic form. This isn't a showstopper but it is an engaging 1 ½ hrs. The Chopin music throughout is delightful.

In trying too hard to obscure things and rely on implied lore, it ends up falsely intellectualizing everything—and the result is boredom. I’m not sure if the final twist was actually planned from the start, but the ending is clear from the very beginning, which makes the reveal feel completely flat. The director also made a very poor choice in layering Chopin non-stop throughout the film. It creates a heavy, suffocating atmosphere, and in the end, you feel trapped—like you're stuck sitting through a bad lecture you can't escape. There’s no brilliance or truly moving moment, despite the interesting subject matter. (Coming from a family that experienced two exiles—La Retirada and the exodus of the Pieds-Noirs—I deeply understand the starting point of Kieran Culkin’s character, a man burdened by the loss of those tied to such traumatic times. And that’s precisely why I wish the director had gone much further with the story.)