Every pro review site that’s written about the film has used this same pic, so here’s me trying to be mistaken for one of them.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: this year’s Heartland Film Festival was a cinematic cornucopia that overwhelmed me with FOMO and forced some hard choices. I was largely pleased with the eight films I caught, but quite a few big ones got away. Among the most high-profile entries I missed was their opening-night feature A Real Pain, a buddy-trip dramedy from writer/director Jesse Eisenberg (yep, the ex-Lex Luthor, the Now You See Me guy, the Zombieland rules-lister, The Social Network‘s Mark Zuckerberg, and so on and on) about family tensions, unpredictable grief, awkward group tours, and letting Kieran Culkin run amuck as an unbridled man-child who’s fascinating to watch onscreen at a remove but whom, if you were stuck next to him in real life, might have you searching desperately for an exit or at least a different seat to escape his orbit.

Continue reading →