A Real Pain * * * *

More a Pole trip than a Road Trip.

I often have reservations when an actor decides to try his or hand at  directing.  Its frequently a disaster, but Jessie Eisenberg has done a great job in the writing and directing of this modest film.

A couple of American guys of Jewish heritage go on a trip to Poland to see the land that their recently deceased grandmother came from.  Jessse Eisenberg plays David and Kieran Cullen plays his crazy cousin Benjamin.  

From the get go (at the airport) we can see Benjamin has got "issues" and is going to be hard work. I mean, he's border line crazy.  He's the kind of guy that has no filter which means he can light up a room or be the ultimate pain in the backside.

David and Benjamin have booked a tour of Warsaw. They join a small group of fellow Jews interested in their own history and a tour guide.  It doesn't take long before Benjamin starts dropping clangers which continue along with his challenging behaviour.  

When going to visit Majdanek concentration camp he doesn't want to ride first class in a train becausde it's an insut to the many jews that were put in cattle trucks. He wants to pose with the statues of the troops on a war memorial, but turns it around as he persuades the rest of the group to join him and in his own way wins their sympathy along with their exasperation.

But nothing is exagerrated for laughs in this film.  Benjamin is a very believable character and in a way it makes it funnier. Yet he carries something tragic inside - indeed a real pain. 

Asise from many feaure films, Eisenberg has been in two Woody Allen films and I get the impression he has learned from the master of this style of film.  A Real Pain is closer to a Woody Allen film than any other director and that indeed is high praise.