A Real Pain (2024), on Hulu, is advertised as a wacky buddy comedy with Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg, touring Poland, with a lot of exteriors.
Not to mention Kieran's backside.
Scene 1: Benji (Kieran Culkin) is sitting in the airport waiting for David (Jesse Eisenberg), who is just walking out the door of his Manhattan brownstone. He keeps calling: heavy traffic...no, it lightened up...Ok, so David is the Stick-in-the-Mud, Benji the Free Spirit.
At the airport, Benji grabs him and makes him twirl so he can see his cousin's butt. Um...an interested in a guy's butt is a sign of gay identity.
He brought yogurt, and some weed for when they reach Poland: "They're not going to arrest two Jews for a little weed."
He chats up the TSA lady: "Her Dad does security for the Knicks." This annoys David. Doesn't count as heterosexualizing him.
Priya made some trail mix for them. Doesn't count: she could be an aunt or a sister.
.jpg)
Scene 2: On the plane, David has to take the middle seat. Bummer.
They discuss their back story: David works in digital ad sales, and Benji is a deadbeat. They haven't seen each other for a while. They're going on a Heritage Tour of Poland.. wait, they're Jewish...is this a tour of the sites of pograms and concentration camps?
Naw, who would want to see those? Poland has 1000 years of Jewish history.
Later, David takes his prescription meds and gazes at a video of his daughter. Heterosexualized at minute 6.30.
It's actually Jesse Eisenberg's real-life son, Banner. I was confused by his long blond hair.
Scene 3: At the Warsaw airport -- "Welcome to Warsaw" sign in English. They meet their driver. Some nice location shots as they drive through the city, but David is still gazing at that video of his son. Why the heck aren't you looking out the window at this major European capital that you've never been to before?
They check in, retrive a package of weed from the desk clerk, and head up to their room. When David kicks off his shoes, Benji complements him: "You have really nice feet. Graceful as fuck. Reminds me of Grandma's feet." Foot fetish? Benji is giving off some gay vibes.
Scene 4: Tour Guide James (Will Sharpe, top photo and left) introduces himself: Not actually Jewish, but a degree in Eastern European Studies from Oxford.
The others in the tour are:
1. Marcia Kramer, recently divorced, from New York. Her mother survived the camps. One of the cousins is obviously going to fall in love with her, but I'm not sure which. Maybe David is divorced, and Benji's interest in men's butts and feet is supposed to be wacky, not homoerotic.
2.-3. Diane and Mark (Daniel Oreskes), an elderly couple.
Daniel Oreskes has 40 acting credits on the IMDB, including The Sopranos, Law & Order, Ray Donovan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Only Murderers in this Building. He is heterosexual.
4. Eloge, from Rwanda, converted to Judaism. He's a survivor of the Rwandan genocide.
The Cameroon-born Kurt Egyiawan is a British theatrical actor who has appeared in The Exorcist, House of the Dragon, Bodies, and Kaos. No intel on whether he's heterosexual or not.
More after the break