Critical Success

San Antonio actress stars in SXSW opening film, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves follows Everything Everywhere All At Once as another chaotic, campy SXSW opening film.

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures and eOne

The adaptability of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D or dnd, colloquially) has brought it well into the 21st century and even into its diametric opposite: a scripted, finite creative work. This isn’t the first time the tabletop role playing game has been adapted into a feature film format, but it’s certainly the highest profile with an ensemble cast including Chris Pine and Hugh Grant. It’s only fitting that its release should open the festival where strange things go on to become the gold standard, South by Southwest.

The festival announced on January 11 that Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has clinched the prestigious spot previously occupied by the wacky but heartfelt 2022 standout Everything Everywhere All At Once (now making rounds on social media again thanks to wins and moving speeches at the Golden Globes). This highly anticipated world premiere has what the A24 film did not before its meteoric success: a staunch fan base nearly 50 years in the making.

For the suddenly-decreasing population of uninitiated onlookers — thanks to TV shows like Stranger Things, Freaks and Geeks, and Community, and actual-play streams like Critical Role and Dimension 20 — Dungeons & Dragons is essentially structured make-believe. A staggering collection of official rulebooks applies a dice-based system of logic and possibilities that players navigate verbally. Say one player is a Legolas-like elf ranger; she may decide to jump over a chasm, rolling a 20-sided die to dictate how successful she is as the narrative pushes on.

“A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers embark on an epic quest to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people,” describes a press release. “The movie brings the rich world and playful spirit of the legendary roleplaying game to the big screen in a hilarious and action-packed adventure.”

Because these hyper-dramatic fantasy games tend to be played by friends in marathon sessions at home, the resulting narratives often take on a campy, scrappy tone that a trailer for the new film immediately reflects. It is borderline nonsensical that a group of underprepared, randomly assembled heroes would need to save the day via a buckshot plot (it’s unclear so far what actually happens in this film besides watching fun tropes play out), and that describes the overwhelming majority of real D&D campaigns.

The rest of the cast is not quite as mainstream as Pine and Grant, but they’re getting close. The appropriately motley crew includes San Antonian Michelle Rodriguez, who played a supporting role with Pine in the Fast & Furious franchise; Bridgerton heartthrob Regé-Jean Page; Jurassic World park technician Justice Smith; It protagonist Sophia Lillis; Guilt star Daisy Head; and athletic Avatar actress Chloe Coleman, only 14 years old.

Conspicuously missing from the official list of directors (Game Night’s Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley) is actor and Dungeons & Dragons writer Joe Manganiello (True Blood, Magic Mike), known for his especially committed devotion to the tabletop game. Manganiello is the highest-profile Hollywood D&D player aside from Stephen Colbert, who has only recently dipped his toes back into a childhood obsession. Reports in October excitedly anchored the film to Manganiello as a co-director with Kyle Newman, but the initial script seems to have been scrapped.

Beyond the effects of cast, crew, and plot, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves represents something oddly universal to players, yet almost completely unique in film: What would happen if anyone in the theater wrote the script?

More information about SXSW’s film programming is available at sxsw.com.

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Movie Review

Jesse Eisenberg redefines the comedy duo trope in A Real Pain

Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg in A Real Pain.

Comedy film duos have a long history, from Laurel and Hardy in the 1920s and ‘30s to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in movies like Baby Mama. But the majority of duos have either been friends or work partners; relationships that can be close, but not as close as family. The new film A Real Pain aims for the comedy that a great duo can bring, but hits deeper because the two lead characters are related to each other.

Benji (Kieran Culkin) and David (Jesse Eisenberg) are first cousins who decide to take a trip to Poland to visit the childhood home of their grandmother, who has recently passed. Their personalities could not be more different, with David buttoned-down and reserved and Benji extremely social, if a little wild. This contrast is on display from the moment they leave on their trip, affecting almost every aspect of their journey.

The two meet up with a diverse tour group in Poland, including guide James (Will Sharpe), recently divorced Marcia (Jennifer Grey), married couple Mark (Daniel Oreskes) and Diane (Liza Sadovy), and Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan), an African man who has converted to Judaism. As the group visits various historical sites, David confronts contrasting feelings about Benji, who goes from charming to abrasive seemingly at the drop of a hat.

Written and directed by Eisenberg, the film is about both the family we have and the history of those who came before us. With Benji and David being Jewish and their grandmother having escaped from the Nazis in World War II, the themes hit harder than they might in other situations. Eisenberg takes care to honor his Jewish ancestors both in the way he has Benji and David talk about their grandmother and the places they visit.

But even though emotions are heightened due to the significance of the trip, the film is far from a dour affair. Benji keeps things interesting at almost all times with a series of impulsive decisions, many that are entertaining for both the tour group and the audience watching the film. He is one of those film characters that is great to watch on screen, but would likely be too much to handle if you were confronted with him in real life.

The relationship between Benji and David is a complicated one; the two obviously have love for each other, but they rarely see eye-to-eye on the best way to approach certain situations. This tension keeps the film grounded, and Eisenberg does a great job at showing the push-and-pull the two cousins have with each other. The little moments, especially when Benji and David go their separate ways, say a lot as the characters try to reconcile where each is at in their respective lives.

Eisenberg has always been an understated performer, so this role is almost perfect for him. Culkin, fresh off his Emmy-winning role in HBO’s Succession, is an ideal foil for Eisenberg, as he has a manic energy that he can control or not control at will. It’s also nice to see Grey in action again, as she brings just the right touch to her supporting role.

The drama in A Real Pain comes from the life experiences of its two main characters, which are on full display despite the story only doling out details in small doses. The film is subtle yet powerful, a testament to Eisenberg’s filmmaking ability and the actors never trying to make too much of their scenes.

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A Real Pain opens in theaters on November 15.

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