Feel the pain of traveling with Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain trailer

According to Jesse Eisenberg, family is a real pain, and in the trailer for his second feature, A Real Pain, he shows us why.

HBO actors are heading to Poland for the second time this year to retrace their family legacy. But while Lena Dunham paired off with Stephen Fry, A Real Pain stars Succession’s Kieran Culkin as the traveling companion from hell—to paraphrase another HBO star. Culkin plays Benji, the ne’re-do-well cousin of the uptight David (Jesse Eisenberg). The pair was thick as thieves as children, but somewhere along the way, David became Jesse Eisenberg, an uptight father offended by his cousin’s insistence on sneaking weed across international borders. Together, they’re taking a “geriatric” tour of Poland after the death of their beloved grandmother. But the more they learn about their family history, the closer they become.

Written and directed by Eisenberg, A Real Pain was a breakout hit at Sundance, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize and won the Waldo Scott Screenwriting Award. This is his second directorial effort, following 2022’s When You Finish Saving The World, starring Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard. Though we’re plenty proud of Mr. Eisenberg’s accomplishments, perhaps more exciting for viewers is that A Real Pain is the first on-screen performance from Culkin since Succession wrapped. In season four, Culkin proved himself the show’s sneaky secret weapon, providing some of the season’s most powerful moments, including a eulogy few will ever forget. Culk-a-mania is running wild, brother.

A Real Pain is in theaters on November 1.’