Weekend Watch: A Real Pain, The Diplomat Season 2

Jesse Eisenberg's on a trip to discover the past and Keri Russell is facing a threat to her present position

Image Credit: Searchlight Pictures

Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, where I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin are exploring family history and Keri Russell’s trying to solve a diplomatic crisis. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite and Threads/Instagram:@jammerwhite

Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut, 2022 effort When You Finish Saving The World may not have set the box office alight or scored all that much attention beyond the fact that the actor was stepping behind the camera, but his second movie as filmmaker, A Real Pain, certainly deserves a better shake on both fronts.

With a script also by Eisenberg, it’s a relatively low-key story of mismatched cousins David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) Kaplan, who reunite for a tour through Poland to honour their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the odd-couple's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.

While Eisenberg is perfectly fine in his role, albeit one that feels familiar to anyone that has seen him act elsewhere, the best thing he’s done here as director is step back and let Culkin make a meal of a role that is ideally suited to the Succession veteran. Benji is a complicated, charismatic man, corralling his fellow travellers into an unexpected photoshoot one moment, melting down about his unresolved emotional issues the next.

It’s an award-worthy performance, and Eisenberg’s script should also be in the awards conversation, since it’s a nimble, clever and understated double-act even given the presence of a tour guide (a fun turn from Will Sharpe) and fellow tourists.

This is a film where even a heartstring-tugging visit to a concentration camp somehow fits into the overall tone without feeling like you’re suffering emotional whiplash. I didn’t know what to expect (even given the film’s success at this year’s Sundance Film Festival), but I left the screening delighted. It has heft to balance its lightness and it was a wonderful surprise: this is far from a pain, and much more a pleasure.

A Real Pain is in US cinemas now. It’ll arrive in the UK on 10 January.

Image Credit: Netflix

I was a big fan of the first season of The Diplomat, which landed on Netflix in April last year. Anchored by a fantastic central performance from Keri Russell (her best since The Americans), it followed American ambassador Kate Wyler, who far from ending up in the complicated assignment she expects, is instead re-routed to what she sees as a lightweight fluff position representing the US in Britain.

It turned out to be much more than that, as an attack on a British warship kicks off a huge diplomatic crisis. Not to mention that the UK’s Prime Minister, Nicol Trowbridge (a brilliant Rory Kinnear) is an unstable weirdo with potential ties to the bombing, and Kate also has to contend with her disintegrating marriage to Hal (Rufus Sewell), who himself is a giant in the diplomatic world.

Season 1 ended on a cliff-hanger as an explosion went off in London, and the new season 2 keeps the pressure on. Yet Cahn and her writing team are cannily able to juggle entertaining plotlines for a variety of characters, and also weave in some humour.

Around Russell, the likes of Sewell, Ali Ahn, Ato Essandoh and David Gyasi continue to be one of the most compelling ensembles in TV and the story layers on twists without becoming ridiculous. Another highlight? The arrival of West Wing veteran Allison Janney as the imperious Vice President Grace Penn just adds an extra spice to the last couple of episodes.

If there’s one downside to Season 2, it’s that it only consists of six episodes, but it was commissioned along with a third, and that should arrive next year.

The Diplomat Season 2 is on Netflix now. I’ve seen all six episodes.