A Real Pain | 2024 | R | – 1.3.10

Why is “A Real Pain” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language throughout and some drug use.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a tour showing a concentration camp in Poland and descriptions of the events that took place there during the Nazi Holocaust, discussions of the death of a woman, discussions of a man’s attempted suicide, several arguments, two men smoking marijuana in a few scenes, and over 80 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Two cousins (Kieran Culkin & Jesse Eisenberg) travel together to Poland to visit the place where their grandmother lived and escaped the Nazi Holocaust, hoping to remain connected after her death. Also with Will Sharpe, Daniel Oreskes, Liza Sadovy, Kurt Egyiawan and Jennifer Grey. Directed by Jesse Eisenberg. A few lines of dialogue are spoken in Polish without translation. [Running Time: 1:30]

A Real Pain SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A man compliments another man’s feet and says that they resemble their grandmother’s feet. A man makes a sexual hand gesture.
► A man showers and we see his bare shoulders. A man lies in bed and we see his boxer briefs and bare legs to the upper thighs.

A Real Pain VIOLENCE/GORE 3

 – A concentration camp is shown and we see gas chambers with stains on the walls from the gas, large ovens and large containers filled with shoes.
► A man describes surviving genocide and escaping to Canada. A man describes his grandmother’s death and how it affected him. People talk about people “surviving the camps.” A man confronts another man about how he conducts a tour. A man becomes upset when a tour group is sitting in an expensive part of a train and describes people during the Holocaust being on trains and having had their “… heads bashed in.” Two men miss their stop on a train and hide from the conductor on another train to get back to their group. A man says that his grandmother was the only person in his life to “Keep me honest.” A man complains about another man and says, “I love him. I hate him.” A man sobs in a bus after a tour of a concentration camp. A man says, “I can’t be trusted.” Two men argue in a few scenes. A man yells at two other men for leaving stones on the stoop of an apartment saying that it would be a hazard. A man describes his grandmother having slapped him in the face for being late for dinner.
► A man jokes about why two Jews in Poland would be suspected of having marijuana. Several people pose in front of a war memorial statue and pretend to be participating in the battle that is depicted. A man describes another man as looking like someone that is always running late. A man says that money is like heroin for boring people.
► A man slaps another man hard in the face and the struck man complains about it hurting. A man pounds on a table flinging a fork across a room and burps loudly three times as he walks away saying that he needs to go to the bathroom

A Real Pain LANGUAGE 10

 – About 82 F-words and its derivatives, 47 scatological terms, 9 anatomical terms, 1 derogatory term for Russian people, 1 derogatory term for German people, name-calling (crazy, boring Mayflower Jews, dude, creepy, baffling, lightweight, fancy, posh, dope, geriatric Polish tour, unremarkable, sensitive, weird, toxic, elitist, blunt, tough, loser, lame, silly, freaks, idiots, disrespectful), exclamations (oh snap, feckin’, ol’ chap), 1 religious profanity (GD), 10 religious exclamations (e.g. oh God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, oh my God). | profanity glossary |

A Real Pain SUBSTANCE USE

 – Two men share marijuana cigarettes on rooftops in a few scenes, a man talks about transporting marijuana to Poland, a man takes a prescription medication and talks about it controlling his OCD, a man receives a package at a hotel in Warsaw and we are told that it contains marijuana, and a man describes another man having overdosed on sleeping pills. People drink wine and after dinner drinks at a restaurant, we see three empty mini vodka bottles next to a sleeping man, and a man guzzles a beer and burps loudly three times. A woman smokes a cigarette.

A Real Pain DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Attempted suicide, death of loved ones, TSA, the Holocaust, Holocaust survivors, Judaism, ghetto uprising, pain, suffering, loss, resilience, feeling homesick, divorce, irony, anti-Semitism, understanding suffering, diversity, being alone, loneliness.

A Real Pain MESSAGE

 – Searching for meaning can be difficult.