A Real Pain (2024)

Written by, directed by, and starring Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain is the kind of film that feels as if it could only be made by someone who decided that they had to make it. It covers subject matter that many will be able to identify with, but also feels like a personal journey for someone processing some of their own feelings in film form.

Eisenberg is David Kaplan, a slightly awkward and reserved young man now a million miles from how Eisenberg appears to be in real life. He joins his cousin, Benji (Kieran Culkin), to go on a tour through Poland, hoping to ultimately end up at the old house of their deceased grandmother. Benji is much quicker to express and discuss his emotions, and much quicker to be blatantly honest, which may make others uncomfortable as they explore a painful past, including wartime genocide and a concentration camp.

Although a low-key affair, and although not entirely unique, A Real Pain works, thanks in no small part to the juxtaposition of Eisenberg and Culkin. Both actors do very good work, although neither seems to be stretching themselves, and they're ably assisted by a supporting cast that includes Jennifer Grey, Will Sharpe, Ellora Torchia, Kurt Egyiawan, Daniel Oreskes, and Liza Sadovy. Grey, Egyiawan, and Sharpe are the highlights, the latter trying hard to deliver a tour that is respectful and informative, but everyone has at least one memorable moment around our main characters.

There's a tightrope being walked here, and some may view the film as a failure. Both David and Benji have their failings, and the latter will certainly be a bit too irritating for some people, but they are rendered rather insignificant by the weight of the history around them anyway. This isn't really about the main characters. It's about pain, as the title says. There's internal pain that doesn't always need an external factor, there's pain that comes through connection to loved ones and the times when those connections are severed, and there's pain that reverberates throughout generations, a scar on our world that some people feel more keenly than others.

I liked this a lot, and I responded to what was being presented at the very heart of it. It's not a great film though, in many ways, and some of the awards buzz it has been garnering may set people up for disappointment. People shouldn't flock to this to marvel at the writing or directorial skill of Eisenberg, and they may not even appreciate the performances as much as I did. I would hope that they find something worthwhile though. Something appreciably human. Sometimes all you need is the vague feeling that someone making art has even the smallest idea of your own journey running alongside their own. A Real Pain gives you that.

7/10

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June-Claude Van Damme: Nowhere To Run (1993)

The funniest thing about revisiting the filmography of Jean-Claude Van Damme is finding out how others view his films, and also finding out that some of them weren't the popular hits that the younger version of me thought they were. Take this film, for example. I thought Nowhere To Run was an easy success for JCVD. It wasn't. It made money, but it didn't make lots and lots of money.

The plot sees Van Damme playing an escaped prisoner who ends up being in the right place at the right time for one single mother (Rosanna Arquette) who is being given a hard time by developers who want her to sell her home and stop getting in the way of a potential gold mine (metaphorically). Joss Ackland is the main baddie, but he uses Ted Levine to oversee the actual dirty work, and also makes use of a local law enforcement officer (Lonnie, played by Edward Blatchford).

Based on a script by Joe Eszterhas, Leslie Bohem, and Randy Feldman, Nowhere To Run is simply an updated riff on Shane, with extra moments that allow the leading man to either take his clothes off or ride about on a motorbike and look cool (or allow his stunt double to do that anyway, which is how it appears in a number of scenes). The pacing works well, despite this being far from the most action-heavy of Van Damme's movies from this time, and the characters are developed just enough beyond the paper-thin to help you care about how things pan out.

It helps that the cast all do a good job. As well as the two leads warming up to one another throughout, leading to some gratuitous nudity and sexy sex time, you get decent turns from Ackland and Blatchford, and a scene-stealing performance from Levine, who benefits the most from the script. You also get a couple of great child performances, from Kieran Culkin and Tiffany Taubman, both of whom latch on to Van Damme with an ease and innocence that kids can have within their first encounter with an adult they decide is okay by them.

Director Robert Harmon does decidedly okay work, but it's a shame that he didn't decide to shake things up a bit, either in terms of some more creative acton sequences or in terms of giving more time to character moments for Arquette and Levine, the former underserved and the latter having so much fun that viewers could have been rewarded by having more of him.

Nowhere To Run remains an enjoyable slice of entertainment, and Van Damme exudes enough charisma here to make it feel completely natural that the film was adapted to fit him into the lead role, but it's also very disposable, and ultimately easily forgettable.

6/10

The disc be here.
Americans can purchase it here.

Father Of The Bride Part II (1995)

Although it's not a direct remake of Father's Little Dividend, this sequel features a number of situations and gags that will be familiar to fans of the 1951 movie.

Time has been passing pleasantly enough for the Banks family ever since the marriage of daughter Annie (Kimberly Williams) to the love of her life, Brian (George Newbern). George (Steve Martin) and Nina Banks (Diane Keaton) have settled into a happy routine, with the former looking forward to the day when he can completely relax. Young Matty Banks (Kieran Culkin) will be heading off to college a few years down the line and there won't be any more children to worry about. Of course, that all changes when Annie announces that she's pregnant. It changes even more when Nina announces the same thing. George suddenly feels every year of his age weighing down upon him and has a crisis of confidence (as well as a fleeting mid-life crisis which leads to him dying his hair and driving a sports car for one or two scenes).

There's no denying that this is a lesser movie, as sequels so often are, but there's an easygoing familiarity to it all that helps make it a harmless time-waster. The characters haven't changed all that much, the journey that they all go on is very similiar to the journey that we saw them go on in the preceding movie and there's a fun cameo from Eugene Levy (who also appeared in Father Of The Bride as a potential wedding singer). These may seem like flimsy reasons to enjoy the movie, and they are, but I don't think that any viewers expected anything weightier from a safe sequel to a safe remake of a family comedy.

Many of the people return to their main roles behind the scenes. Charles Shyer once again directs with a lack of flair, Nancy Meyers helps once more in the script department (with help from the material written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett) and it's obvious that this is very much a case of everyone getting back together and falling into comfortable roles. In front of the cameras, Martin Short steals his scenes again, while Martin, Keaton, Williams and Newbern all do just fine.

For viewers, however, familiarity may breed some contempt. If you liked the 1991 movie then you're unlikely to hate this one, but it's never going to be a favourite either.

5/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Father-Of-The-Bride-DVD/dp/B001G3ENIK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376731868&sr=8-1&keywords=father+of+the+bride

Father Of The Bride (1991)

After such a fantastic run of movies in the 1980s, Steve Martin started the '90s with some less anarchic films that would indicate the direction his career would take over the next few decades. He still had greatness to give, but most of his movies would fall into the category of either remake or safe, family fare. Father Of The Bride is both.

Martin plays George Banks, the man who ends up acting a bit funny when he's told by his daughter (Kimberly Williams) that she wants to get married (to a young man named Brian, played by George Newbern). George's wife, Nina (Diane Keaton), is very pleased with the news, but all seems to go from bad to worse as George sees the wedding plans - put together by Franck (Martin Short) and Howard (BD Wong) - escalate while his bank balance just keeps shrinking.

Based on the enjoyable original movie (which starred Spencer Tracy in the lead role), Father Of The Bride is a gentle comedy full of many identifiable moments for parents of either gender. You just never stop worrying about your kids, and never stop seeing them as the small and vulnerable little ones that you spent so many years looking after. Martin and Diane Keaton are suitably parental in their roles, with one being stressed out and overly critical while the other is happy and caught up in the moment. Williams and Newbern are both sweet youngsters, often oblivious to how their actions affect those that love them, and Kieran Culkin is young Matty Banks, a boy who doesn't mind being slightly overlooked while things are being prepared for his sister's big day. Short and Wong are both hilarious as the wedding co-ordinators, and Peter Michael-Goetz and Kate McGregor-Stewart (playing the parents of Brian) do well with their relatively short amount of screentime.

The direction by Charles Shyer is okay, though a bit flat and bland, and Shyer also contributed to the script, co-written with Nancy Meyers (working with the screenplay from the original movie, written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett). There are a number of nice little nods to the original movie, but things are also updated nicely and smoothly enough. Which makes this a decent remake that may not be the best thing on the filmography of anyone involved, but doesn't sully the good memory of the original either.

It might not be a film that you now rush out to see, but catch it whenever it comes on TV and you may find yourself amused for the runtime.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Father-Of-The-Bride-DVD/dp/B001G3ENIK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376651038&sr=8-1&keywords=father+of+the+bride