A Real Pain is a sublime, Rolls-Royce version of that often mis-handled genre: the mismatched-buddy comedy. Jesse Eisenberg’s second film as writer-director (after When You Finish Saving The World) pitches two Jewish cousins on a journey to honour their family ancestry in Poland. The result is a by turns funny, solemn and emotional road trip that flies by on two superb central performances from Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin.Eisenberg economically sketches his diametrically opposed protagonists. His David is strait-laced and slightly nervy, living a successful life selling digital ad space in New York with a wife (Ellora Torchia) and adorable son (played by Eisenberg’s real-life son Banner). Culkin’s Benji is a loud-mouthed loose cannon, a wastrel who is going nowhere — he airmails weed to his hotel in Poland — but has enough charisma to get himself out of any situation. – EMPIRE 

“A Real Pain is only the second film Jesse Eisenberg has made as writer and director as well as actor, but it’s a masterpiece already.” – New Statesman

“Understated, funny, and gradually heart-swelling, writer-director Jesse Eisenberg’s Chopin-kissed sophomore feature is as graceful as movies come.” – Harper’s Bazaar