Reseñas de la crítica

The first miracle about “A Real Pain”... is how it pulls off the most delicate of balancing acts. That it does so while also asking intriguing questions about the nature of pain – personal vs. universal, historic vs. contemporary – is all the more impressive. So is the fact that it showcases an Oscar-worthy performance.

In A Real Pain, Eisenberg, who wrote and directed the film, manages to tell a story about the Holocaust that doesn’t ask all those dead millions to become its supporting cast. In this film, trauma trickles down through the generations, but not in the obvious or pat ways that descendants of survivors have captured it before.

It’s career-best stuff for both Culkin as an actor and Eisenberg as a filmmaker, in ways that create genuine excitement for whatever the latter does next... With his thoughtful, nuanced work here, Eisenberg has established himself as someone with powerful things to say.

“A Real Pain” offers no story and only one developed character, given that Mr. Eisenberg consigns himself to the role of straight man, who has little purpose except to react to his wayward cousin. Your reaction to the movie is likely to be contingent on whether you think Benji is deep. To me he is merely unpleasant.

As much of a motormouth as Culkin’s Benji can be, A Real Pain is exceptionally skillful in managing silences... It isn’t a showy cinematic experience but a confident one, filled with small moments that linger.

Eisenberg's remarkable film... [is] heartfelt, awkward, full of pain it’s desperate to do something with, and laced with an all-too-necessary mordant humor. It at once recalls the works of Woody Allen, Alexander Payne and, most notably, the comedy of Adam Sandler.

A Real Pain is far less scornful [than Eisenberg's first film] and has genuine affection for its characters, screwed-up and incomplete though they may be. There is an overdetermined quality to the film’s writing... but also a canny recognition of the value of traditions and gestures (futile and otherwise) in connecting us to our pasts.

A Real Pain is an almost perfect little film, whose tiny flaws make it more human — it’s never preeningly artful. But artful it is, sharply written and directed with a delicate feel for ambivalence and ambiguity; there’s no cheap emotion in it.

A road movie that treads just enough off the beaten path to distinguish itself from a million other stories of mismatched traveling companions... [A Real Pain is an] extraordinary, character-driven dramedy.

"A Real Pain" can make you laugh out loud and ugly cry, and yet there's not a manipulative, sanctimonious, self-congratulatory minute in it. Not bad for a wildly entertaining odd-couple romp that references the Holocaust and suicidal ideation.

A Real Pain is a very welcome throwback to a type of indie comedy-drama that had all but disappeared. It manages to be ruefully perceptive and laugh-out-loud funny, often at the same time: that’s not easy.

Beneath the wisecracks and one-liners there’s a subtle and penetrating analysis of family bonds and the burden of shared history... [A Real Pain] is a clever, complex piece, but Eisenberg has made it look breezily simple.