OVERVIEW
In 1986 Queens, two brothers, Irwin Pearl (Miles Teller), a soft-spoken engineer with a wife and two sons, and Gary (Adam Driver), a smooth ex-cop with a divorce payment to make, go into business together consulting on the Gowanus Canal cleanup. The canal, it turns out, is controlled by the Russian mob.
BACKGROUND
By the time Paper Tiger reached Cannes, it had spent eighteen months being rebuilt. The film was announced in late 2024 as a sequel to Armageddon Time, with Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong returning as the Gray family’s parents and Driver attached as the older brother. By May 2025, both Hathaway and Strong had dropped out due to scheduling, and the April shoot in New Jersey had been pushed, leaving Gray with weeks to recast and rewrite. With contracts still not finalized, the film was not part of the original Cannes lineup. It was added late after Neon acquired it for U.S. distribution, making it one of only two American films in this year’s competition.
THE REVIEW
Character names might have been changed, along with how they look, but at its core, the film remains a spiritual continuation of not only Armageddon Time, but Gray’s filmography as a whole. It once again explores the failed father figure who holds authority inside the household but whose authority is undercut the moment he steps into the real world. Here we are given two of these. Miles Teller’s Irwin is the official father, predictable and stable (aka boring), who does not earn the boys’ admiration but can afford them a good life. Driver’s Gary, on the other hand, is the uncle but also functions as the alternate father, the one the boys actually want to be like, the one who drives the fancy car, wears the suits, and carries the gun in his ankle holster.
Throughout the film, we watch the struggle between the two figures, the two brothers each trying to acquire the fatherhood characteristic that the other has, and the conflict ends up resulting in pain and the fragmentation of the family. When Gary arrives with the pitch, Irwin agrees because the deal becomes an opportunity to truly impress the sons who fixate on Gary the moment he appears. In that sense, Driver’s performance is exceptional, embodying the uncle who owns the room and effortlessly becomes the person the nephews want to be, yet is pathetic to anyone looking from the outside. It becomes clear early that he is not someone to fully put your trust in, not without a few precautions.
Such precautions are not on Irwin’s mind. At the first opportunity, he wants to show off the work he will be doing and gain his sons’ respect, which, in turn, gets him and the boys into trouble with the Russians.
Another point of note is the title itself and what it represents. At first, Gary treats the Russians as a paper tiger, all teeth but no claws. As the film progresses, it becomes clear that he is actually the farce, quick to whip others for information, yet unaware, or unwilling to admit, that he is way over his head.
The film is shot like a great-looking lost movie from the 70s by Gray’s usual collaborator Joaquín Baca-Asay, gritty and with precise blocking when it is not stuck in close-ups, probably to avoid exposing the budget constraints. It also features a respectable, adequate yet unremarkable score by Christopher Spelman.
It is disappointing, then, that, like many in Gray’s career, the rich thematic content and the craft never quite translate into a proper great film, never quite engaging, never quite becoming more than merely fine. The narrative never fully immerses, and the suspense never truly takes hold. For most of the time, events feel like they are happening without much build-up or emotional variance, which is a weird thing to say about a movie that involves troubles with the mob, family conflict, a grave health condition, and shootouts.
Some awkward, unpolished choices also plague Gray’s film once again, this time in the dialogue, which is often blunt. Gary outright refers to the Russians by the title of the film. Scarlett Johansson, at one point, says, “What will happen to my beautiful boys?” a line that no actress would be able to sell, and Johansson squanders even that.
The actress never escapes feeling like she is playing dress-up, making sure you notice her every tic and choice, in a performance that is far more fitting for her Fly Me to the Moon shtick than the gritty tone Gray wants to establish. There is a scene where she receives awful news and shakes, as if she has the DTs. An embarrassing performance from an actress who continues to struggle since her two Oscar nominations in 2019.
The same try-hard feeling also plagues Teller’s performance, which, despite the forced, unnatural deeper voice that fits the character, never merges into the world. The young kids and the secondary cast do a much better job, and so does Driver, who feels like he is operating on a totally different level.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Paper Tiger is competent, classical, and once again unable to cross the line into something that fully engages. There is a fantastic core that expands on Gray’s usual themes of the two halves of the failed father with care, while also giving Driver one of the best roles of his career. The final shootout is confidently staged. Yet you never feel drawn to the family, and the Russians never truly scare. Tragedy never quite arrives, even as the bodies do. Unfortunately, yet another Gray film that left me cold.
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- Where to watch
- Coming soonNov 20, 2026
- Where to watch
- Coming soonJan 7, 2027
Play trailer
- Original title
- Paper Tiger
- Director
- James Gray
- Cast
- Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Miles Teller, Gavin Goudey, Roman Engel, Cindy Katz, Yavor Vesselinov, Victor Ptak
- Rated
- R
- Screenwriter
- James Gray
- Composer
- Christopher Spelman
- Cinematography
- Joaquín Baca-Asay, Jeff Muhlstock
- Editor
- Scott Morris
- Country
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $15 million