THE STORY – Two brothers pursue the American Dream but get entangled in a dangerous Russian mafia scheme that terrorizes their family, testing their bond as betrayal becomes possible.
THE CAST – Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson & Miles Teller
THE TEAM – James Gray (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 115 Minutes
James Gray has always been one of our best American filmmakers, mostly because even when his movies don’t entirely hit the mark, he still exhibits a high degree of care, craft, and intention in his storytelling that you can feel when you watch and rewatch them. Whether it’s a deeply personal story like “Armageddon Time” or a technical stunner like “Ad Astra,” this is a guy who loves filmmaking, from writing to directing, working with actors, and all of the other details in between. He’s also become quite an advocate for film lovers everywhere on various hot-button topics within the industry, whether it’s emerging AI technologies, physical media, or really anything. The guy always seems to have an opinion, and he’s very well-respected within the community. Which is why there was a ton of excitement surrounding his latest film when it was announced for the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, not just because it was only one of two American films to screen in competition at the pretigious film festival in a year where American films were sorely lacking but also because the genre which Gray is revisiting would harken back to some of his earlier work on indie crime dramas such as “Little Odessa,” “The Yards” and even something maybe a bit more mid-budget like “We Own The Night.” Sadly, I personally find all three of those films to be better than his latest, “Paper Tiger,” a to a fault old-school American crime drama about brotherhood, ambition in a capitalist society, and pushing back against forces far greater than yourself.
The Pearl family enjoys a comfortable life in Queens, New York, in 1986. Irwin Pearl (Miles Teller) and his wife, Hester (Scarlett Johansson), are raising two teenage boys, and one of them is preparing to head off to college. Though they’ve experienced their share of financial setbacks, they’ve managed to build a stable life for themselves. However, things take a turn when Irwin’s brother, Gary (Adam Driver), approaches him with a business opportunity that would put Irwin’s engineering expertise to use as a consultant with his brother. A former cop with deep city connections and a personality people naturally gravitate toward, Gary has found himself working with a new wave of Russian gangsters taking control of the ports along the Gowanus Canal after the Italian mafia was pushed out. As everyone rushes to claim a piece of the action, the heavily polluted waterways become a complicated landscape of regulations and logistical hurdles that require careful navigation. Irwin will handle the scientific and technical side of the operation, while Gary relies on his street smarts and connections with the city to deal with the Russians directly. What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, quite a lot. Irwin quickly realizes he is far out of his depth in a world he doesn’t understand, while Gary is far more comfortable getting his hands dirty when necessary. Before long, the brothers learn that these men operate by their own laws and rules, and in a world driven by paranoia and distrust, one wrong move could have deadly consequences.
“Paper Tiger” features some of the most tension-filled sequences Gray has ever assembled. Whether it’s a threat from the Russian gangsters towards the Pearl family, a tense sit-down conversation between Gary and the head Russian crime boss where one foul glance or a wrong word could mean death, or the climactic standoff at the end of the film, Gray demonstrates an undeniable command over these scenes. There’s a constant feeling of dread hanging over the brothers’ increasingly dangerous circumstances as one honest but ill-advised decision by Irwin quietly builds into a full-blown paranoia by the Russians, causing them to threaten his family. Yet for all his skill at building tension, Gray occasionally undercuts it with a romanticism toward the time period and these people, pushing the material toward mawkish melodrama when the story neither needed nor justified it. Gray has always been a sentimental filmmaker at heart, but here that instinct occasionally overwhelms the harder-edged crime story at the film’s center, affecting not just the overall perception of the film but its performances as well.
Adam Driver, to his credit, is turning in one of his best performances to date as the captivating Gary, a charismatic, “I can fix it” guy who is trying his best to hold everything together in a world that is already beginning to collapse around him before he and his brother could even get their business up and running. Driver plays him with the swagger and confidence of a man who believes every room can be controlled, provided you say the right things and carry yourself a certain way. Miles Teller, meanwhile, is the grounded straight brother who just wants to protect his family but is ill-equipped to do so as he is in way over his head. Scarlett Johansson, however, feels underserved by this material. Whether it’s her worry for her two sons, or it’s dealing with a new illness that changes her entire mood, she has a number of showy, emotional scenes that would normally scream “give her awards,” but the screenplay never affords the character enough depth to justify that level of investment.
Most surprisingly, there’s a rough, scrappy quality to the filmmaking itself that feels somewhat at odds with Gray’s usually more refined sensibilities as a filmmaker. “The Immigrant,” “The Lost City Of Z,” “Ad Astra,” these are all gorgeous films to look at. So why does this film look so muddy, drab, and cheap? The visual style at times effectively captures the grime and atmosphere of late-1980s New York, submerging us in a dirty, dark city and culture caught in transition, but then excuses the editing, which often also feels oddly sloppy and uneven. While Gray’s previous films frequently possessed a visual polish that elevated even their weaker material, “Paper Tiger” lacks that same level of craft.
There are flashes throughout of the filmmaker at his absolute best, enough to remind audiences why Gray remains one of America’s most compelling storytellers, but taken as a whole, “Paper Tiger” ultimately feels like a lesser entry in his filmography, let alone the crime genre, which he has dabbled in on more than one occasion. Even a minor James Gray work carries more curiosity and humanity than most, but this one never fully finds the balance between being a star-studded, entertaining crime drama and the dark heartfelt tragedy it’s desperately aspiring for. I guess for Gray, like the Pearls, the dream is just out of reach.
