'Paper Tiger' Review: A Promising Drama Undone by Its Emotional Core
By Alex Gilston - October 13, 2026
There’s something about the folly of men getting themselves into increasingly precarious situations that threaten the lives of those around them on screen. Films like Uncut Gems see the protagonist favour ego over all else in pursuit of a great personal ideal. It’s a well trodden cinematic path and one that unfortunately director James Gray can’t breathe new life into in his latest feature Paper Tiger. A muddled and undercooked crime drama that only gets good in its closing moments.
What is Paper Tiger about?
Gary Pearl (Adam Driver) comes to his brother Irwin (Miles Teller) with a business proposition. It’s a lucrative scheme that is perfect for Irwin’s engineering skills, but unbeknownst to him it involves cosying up with the ever growing New York presence of the Russian mob. After misinterpreting a chance encounter the deal begins to put Irwin’s wife Hester (Scarlett Johansson) and their kids in danger. It’s then down to Gary, with his history as a police lieutenant, to protect his brother and keep the Russians at bay.
On the surface Paper Tiger has an interestingly deplorable concept. The relationship between Gary and Irwin is at the heart of the story, and it’s pushed to its limits in a situation both brothers are ill equipped to deal with. But the connection is never fully realised. Surprisingly Driver and Teller don’t share as much screen time as you’d expect. Both are off doing separate things in a way that feels detrimental to Paper Tiger making their relationship convincing enough to pull off the final act.
Despite this the focus on Irwin and Gary’s relationship makes the outside players of this film feel even more undercooked. Scarlett Johansson plays Teller’s wife here and she is severely underutilised. The action of Paper Tiger turns to her at various points through the film but her troubles and illness are completely separated from Irwin and their sons. By keeping her at arms length the film demotes the potential emotional impact she could have on the other characters. Fittingly her final appearance in the film is her fading down the stairs, a succinct summation for Hester’s role in Paper Tiger.
There is glimmers of good filmmaking and mainly so in a sequence towards the film’s climax. Gary dashes into some tall grass on the outskirts of New York City and a tense game of cat and mouse between him and the Russian goons sent to kill him begins. It’s a frenetic burst of action in an otherwise slow moving film. The camera peering through the shrubbery in every direction capturing only gaps of the surroundings was really well done.
Overall, Paper Tiger can’t overcome its narrative shortcomings. There’s an interesting and powerful film in there somewhere but when it revolves around a brotherly relationship that doesn’t work, everything else falls flat because of it.
'Paper Tiger' has a limited U.S. theatrical release on November 13, 2026, followed by a wide nationwide rollout on November 20, 2026. Set to release in UK cinemas on February 5, 2027.
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Alex Gilston
Senior Writer
Alex is a film critic, and self confessed Disney expert. His passion for film is huge, so to be able to write and talk about them is a personal dream of his.
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