What to watch: Jesse Eisenberg’s ‘A Real Pain’ is anything but

It’s a busy week for new stuff to watch. In theaters, “A Real Pain” is a road-trip gem. But we were far less impressed, sadly, with Netflix’s “Emilia Pérez.” Meanwhile, two new streaming series take their inspiration from the works of three thrilling authors. We also take a look at a new series from Hallmark, the channel that lives for Christmas.

All of this comes out the same week as a new take on the classic thriller “Day of the Jackal,” starring Eddie Redmayne.

Here is our roundup.

“A Real Pain”: A trip to Poland  to celebrate the life of their beloved grandmother reveals the fissures and bonds between two very different cousins in writer/director Jesse Eisenberg’s wise, tonally perfect drama. Eisenberg, who co-stars here with Kieran Culkin, wrote himself a role that suits him ever so well, playing the by-the-book, uptight David, a married man with a reliable job and a reliable life. Benji (Culkin) is the exact opposite, a jobless stoner who is spontaneous and careless with words where David is rigid and reasoned. The two differ in numerous ways and their relationship gets more strained as they take a tour with others that puts David on edge and finds him apologizing for his cousin’s impetuous, sometimes offensive remarks. “A Real Pain” sounds like it might be your average odd couple road-trip drama where people make up and go kissy-kissy at the end, but Eisenberg aims much higher than that as he addresses the generational fallout from the Holocaust, the pain and loneliness of being mentally ill and the problems of not allowing ourselves to let go and relish the moment. Eisenberg and Culkin play off each other well, but it is Culkin’s erratic performance that stays with you. It’s one of the best performances of 2024. Details: 3½ stars; in theaters Nov. 15.

“Cross”: While still in the throes of grief after the murder of his wife, D.C. detective and single dad Alex Cross (Aldis Hodge) chases after a well-to-do serial killer fascinated by what real-life serial killers look like. Prime’s eight-episode thriller from creator Ben Winter takes a creepy premise and makes it violent and watchable, even if the plot does doughnuts around logic. What saves it is that Hodge and Winters allow novelist James Patterson’s well-known character to be more of an anguished soul than the actors who previously portrayed him — Morgan Freeman (“Kiss the Girls” and “Along Came a Spider”) and Tyler Perry (“Alex Cross”). This gives Hodge more acting gristle to chew on and he seizes on the opportunity. Other elements add more layers, including Cross getting ensnared in a Black Lives Matter protest and having Alex face a real freak of a nemesis, portrayed with depraved confidence by Ryan Eggold. “Cross” picks up just after the previous Perry film (it was supposed to turn into a series, but bad reviews ended that) and finds Alex sparring with his partner and friend John Sampson (Isiah Mustafa, lending strong support) while raising his two kids with the help of his wise grandma (Juanita Jennings). A Season 2 is already in the works and hopefully by then they’ll have worked out a few kinks. As is, it’s worth the watch, kinks and all. Details: 2½ stars; all episodes drop Nov. 14 on Prime.

“Holidazed”: When it comes to feel-good holiday movies, no one rivals Hallmark Media.  Hallmark+’s first Christmas heartwarming series is proof of that. The eight-parter introduces us to six diverse families, all of whom live in a cozy, pristine, home on a cul-de-sac in Oak Bay, Oregon. They experience a variety of obstacles to overcome during the holiday season — an unrequited love, a high-achieving sister, a former school bully, an unwelcome health issue,  a potentially homophobic grandmother and so on — all of which get oh-so merrily resolved by Christmas Day. An introductory episode to the families follows up with episodes that relate to each family’s drama. A couple are better than others. One constant remains, “Holidazed” is an absolute gift for Christmas movie lovers. Certainly those in the cast know exactly what they need to accomplish here, in particular Virginia Madsen, Loretta DeVine, Noemi Gonzalez, Dennis Haysbert and Osric Chau. Of course, anyone with a low tolerance for sugary sweet, sometimes sticky sentimentality would want to suck on a pack of lemons afterwards. For others, this is pure comfort and joy. Details: 3 stars; two episodes drop Nov. 14 on Hallmark+, followed by an episode every Thursday afterward.

“Say Nothing”: Author Patrick Radden Keefe’s award-winning dive into the nefarious activities of a handful of IRA rebels as well as the abduction of a 38-year-old Northern Ireland mom from her home in 1972 gets turned into a top-notch, tragic nine-episode FX series. It mostly chronicles the ideological evolution and education of sisters Dolours Price (Lola Petticrew, in a performance that should merit an Emmy nomination) — a college art student —  and Marian Price (Hazel Doupe, Petticrew’s equal who has powerful scenes near the end) — someone younger but also resourceful. The two idealized youths get so entrenched in the terrorist organization that they go on to rob banks and plant bombs. Dolours also drove informers that the IRA marked for death to their final destination. Jumping back and forth in time and anchored around an older Dolours (Maxine Peake, a dead ringer for a more mature Petticrew) confessing and revealing her part in all of this, “Say Nothing” brings us into these troubling times in Ireland where innocents such as mom of 10 Jean McConville (Judith Roddey) got caught up in the paranoia and hate. “Say Nothing” uses its nine episodes well since it introduces us to numerous others, including Gerry Adams (Josh Finan) — who has denied his association to the group — and IRA operator Brendan Hughes (Anthony Boyle), a loyalist to his men. Creator Josh Zetumer takes great pains to re-create the decades-spanning details — the clothes, hair styles and on to the wood paneling – and that lends itself well to Zetumer’s docudrama approach to history that reminds us of how our past actions can harm generations to come. Details: 3½ stars; all nine episodes drop Nov. 14 on Hulu.

“The Stanford Prison Experiment: Unlocking the Truth”: This three-part docuseries covers one of the most referenced psychological experiments ever, a 1971 controlled test that was intended to show that deep inside every person lurks an evil one, a presence that comes to the fore when placed in an authoritarian position. Director Juliette Eisner takes a critical, intelligent look at Stanford professor Dr. Philip Zimbardo’s “experiment” and how it created a fake prison and hired men to either play people incarcerated there or guards. It spun out of control and was shut down six days into its intended two weeks. Zimbardo got thrust into the spotlight shortly thereafter when the 1971 Attica prison riot broke out. Soon  Zimbardo, who died this year in San Francisco, popped up everywhere to discuss the implications of  his experiment and how it compared to historical events, including what happened during the Abu Ghraib torture scandal. But did the Stanford experiment really offer anything conclusive about the nature of evil? Eisner’s documentary ponders that by focusing mainly on the eye-opening, candid accounts of the participants there, and how some felt like they were doing a performance and wanted to dump the job they were being paid to do. Since many of the men in the study haven’t been extensively interviewed, the National Geographic series does say something new, a feat, given there have been a number of films — some good, some bad — focused on the subject. Eisner balances those personal reflections with one of Zimbardo’s final interviews, a telling one that anchors the final episode. Details: 3 stars; all three episodes air starting at 8 p.m. Nov. 13 on National Geographic and is available for streaming the next day on Hulu and Disney+.

“Emilia Pérez”: Jacques Audiard’s operatic drama doesn’t lack ambition and histrionic flourishes, but it does oddly ignore making its titular character the center of its story, an ill-fated decision that also tripped up Martin Scorsese’s “The Killers of the Flower Moon.” So instead of focusing on the most fascinating person in this pseudo-musical — a Mexican cartel leader (Karla Sofía Gascón) who wants to undergo sex-change surgeries and transition into a woman — it instead tells the story through the eyes of Rita (Zoe Saldaña), a lawyer who helps “Emilia” set up their new life. It turns “Emilia” into an enigma, and sadly hampers the performance of Gascón, who is dynamite but not explosive since she’s never given the match to light the role afire. Fortunately, Saldaña — the main character here no matter what any potential Awards nominations might claim — is an extremely gifted actor, singer and dancer, and throws herself fully into the role. But the music and dance numbers don’t leave much of an impression, except one in which Saldaña scorches things up in a restaurant and another when Selena Gomez, as Emilia’s wife Jessi, sings and dances in a bedroom. Meanwhile other secondary characters such as Jessi’s boyfriend (Edgar Ramirez) and Emilia’s new lover (Adriana Paz) are woefully underdeveloped. That’s particularly disheartening for Paz who deserves a more fleshed-out character to play given how important her voice is to be heard in the film. The same holds true for Gascon, who feels like they’ve been relegated to the background of a film where they should be at the forefront. It is her story to tell, after all, and it should be told loudly and clearly.  Details: 2 stars; drops Nov. 13 on Netflix.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.