‘Paper Tiger’ Review: James Gray’s New York State of Mind Needs a Rewrite [C-] Cannes
During the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, the programmers of the two-week prestigious event scheduled two cinematic crime thrillers for screenings at the festival, with both centering around the idea that the only lasting thing in this world is the people you hold nearest to yourself; family. Those titles of course were a 25th anniversary screening of The Fast and the Furious, which has spent two and a half decades smashing cars and living life a quarter mile at a time, and James Gray’s newest creation, Paper Tiger. Gray, an illuminating figure in the world of American independent filmmaking, whose own filmography has mostly had internal family dynamics at the core of their plots (Little Odessa, The Yards, We Own the Night, Ad Astra, Armageddon Time; just to name a few), while also focusing the same amount of attention of the idea of the “American Dream,” (The Immigrant, The Lost City of Z). The issues with Paper Tiger feel weirdly similar to Vin Diesel’s action “family” franchise, because as that series has gone on, the quality of a once fun, explosive, entertaining saga of films has become a slog to get through the latest adventure, and for Gray, he’s newest work, alongside his last project, have that same feeling of recycled material that’s not exploring anything he hasn’t done already to much better results.
Gray’s latest mortality tale begins in Queens in 1986, right at the height of change within the city, as the Italian mob of the 1970s is being forced out, and the power dynamics are quickly shifting towards a new power lead by the Russian Mob (it’s the Cold War era after all). This provides anyone with ambition the chance to forge something of their own, and that is where Gary Pearl (Adam Driver) comes in. A former police officer, now retired, with enough connections in the city to build a name for himself and gain a little money in his pocket, but not enough to be content with. As he is on the verge of getting a divorce from his wife, he sees an opportunity to start a consulting business with companies who want to work with Gary within the Gowanus Canal, a nearly two-mile-long canal in Brooklyn. In coming up with this idea, he decides that his brother Irwin (Miles Teller), a seasoned engineer, could come on and help Gary with the language of these deals once they start their work, while also allowing Irwin to look at their properties they work on to make sure everything operates at the right level. For Irwin, he’s a modest man, who lives with his wife Hester (Scarlett Johansson), and their two boys Scott and Ben (Gavin Goudey, Roman Engel) in a small home in Queens within a middle class means of finances, education, and opportunities. They aren’t struggling, though with Scott about to go to college, and seeing his brother in expensive suits and showing up to their house with Peter Luger’s steaks (medium rare, I hope) and fries for dinner, there is no way he can pass up this chance to put thousands of dollars in his pocket.
So as you would expect, the brothers find themselves in business, as they head to the site on the first night of becoming partners, and they look at their future together. Gary hands Irwin ten thousand dollars, saying this is just a start, but in the long run, this was just the end, as the brothers slowly end up losing it all after Irwin is driving the boys to the construction site one night to have them take a look at his venture, he witnesses an illegal gas smuggling deal involving some Russians that traces back to Simeon Bogoyavich (Victor Ptak), a new Russian mob boss looking to take over the area, and continue to build his line of power. In one of the few tense scenes in the film, associates of Bogoyavich scare the boys in the back of their family car, while they rough up Irwin inside of the office right off the canal. It’s here James Gray understands what he’s doing the most, with scenes of action that come right from the tension of a foe that doesn’t want to be messed with, and that there is no talking in the world from Gary or Irwin that can change their fate, as their dream of starting their business ends before it even begins. The director is saying that, for some, the American Dream is a flat out myth; an idea that the powerful dangle in people’s faces just to see the vulnerable try to scratch and crawl. When Gary and Irwin meet with Bogoyavich and his men, you know right then and there that it is over for the two of them. All that matters is how much damage will be left behind because of their optimistic, but rather foolish plan to get ahead comes crumbling down. Again, these are themes and character plots, situations that Gray has explored in his past works, and it mostly comes out as a straightforward thriller here than a dive into the great American hope that is taught to all of us. But there is something so absolute about the brother’s impending doom that does hit harder once you walk away from film; leaving the viewer feeling more dreadful than usual with this message, as the inevitability of the run in with the Russians sets in, leaving a cynical taste in the audience’s mouth as a shot of a New York City skyline is visible after a gruesome act of unpreventable violence. It would’ve been a great final shot if Gray had focused more on the dread of this story, instead delivering an ending that’s equal parts schmaltzy and laughable.
Driver, an actor of supreme talents, delivers one of his strongest performances in recent memory, as he gives Gary a sense of swagger at first within stylish 1980 suits, that dissolves into a desperate con artist that’s full of lies, half-truths, and is more concerned about delaying the hurt that’s coming to him than saving the ones that he loves. Involving his brother, knowing the risks that it would cause if things went the wrong way, was as dangerous of a move as he could’ve ever done, and when faced with the chance to get out multiple times, Gary rejects that notion, making it harder and harder for him to accept his defeat. Driver gives Gary the manic energy to move the plot forward, with a performance that feels akin to the work of Pattinson in Good Time or Chalamet in Marty Supreme, other films that explore the ideas of Paper Tiger through desperate men looking to become something more than what they already are. His counterpart doesn’t bode as well, as Teller, an actor who can deliver when given the material, dissolves as the film goes on, and becomes forgettable, in large part because the script forgets about him. By the time he reaches the second act, and Gary is trying to get the money back to the Russians and save his neck, Irwin, and the rest of his family, seem to only have glimpses of what might’ve been larger storylines. One of the few moments that does stick out involves a late night break in by the Russian henchmen to scare Irwin, as Gray and his cinematographer Joaquín Baca-Asay slowly keep the camera on Teller as he walks down the stairs of his house with a gun in his hand, ready to defend what is his, and finds photos of his family sleeping, and a message that this problem isn’t going away unless Gary makes a deal. It’s a tense, visually striking moment that is too far and in-between that’s barely explored outside of a blow-up fight between Irwin and Hester that’s one of the silliest moments of the year, and could’ve used another few takes to get the tone of the scene, the horror of what had just occurred, correctly conveyed.
Speaking of Hester, to talk about one of the biggest problems in the film would also highlight Gray’s (and most male filmmakers) problem with writing interesting female characters. Inside one of the most baffling performances of the year lies some of Johansson’s worst work of her career, both in the material given to her on the page and what she does with it on the screen. For the first half of the film, she is your basic housewife; staying at home, yelling at her two sons to stop fighting each other and do their chores. But about midway through the film, she is suddenly given a life-ending cancer diagnostic that should feel heartbreaking and devastating given the drama of her situation matched with what is going on with Irwin, but plays like a Lifetime movie inserted into the middle of the film’s conflict for no reason. The scene she finds out her diagnosis is a true mess of acting, directing, and wig work, as the whole moment feels just as false and out of place as her scene later when she yells at Irwin for putting their family in danger; a scene where she yells so strangely and straining, it sounded like the cry of a horse getting dewormed. An overall rough experience for an Oscar-nominated actress that deserves better for a performance that makes you question if she’s no longer the talent in her household (and that’s not saying much given the other party).
Much like the writing of his main female character, the faults found within Paper Tiger stem from a director who has run out of ideas, and is trying to recreate the magic of his earlier project, ones with more energy and urgency that felt timely for their time. Aside from the few scenes mentioned above, and a brilliant scene involving a shootout between Gary and the Russians in a tall field of grass near the airport that makes one wish the film had the tension and sense of urgency the rest of the film doesn’t have; a scene that brings to mind the wondrous action sequences on the moon in Ad Astra or the car chase scenes in We Own the Night. But even this calls to attention the problem with Gray and his latest the most, that he’s in his Robert Zemeckis, Clint Eastwood (especially with the film’s hokey ending) era, where the well has dried up in bold, original ideas for a full length feature, and only felting moments of technical genius remain.
Put together just in time to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, one questions if this is the final cut for Paper Tiger, but even if it isn’t, it won’t matter. It’s an auteur-driven snoozer that showcases inconsistency across the board, and demands someone take a second pass on Gray’s screenplays moving forward. As cliché as it sounds, the real Paper Tiger was James Gray all along, an artist that seems to be one of the best working directors today, continuing to build anticipation for his latest film, but shouldn’t be trusted to deliver the goods.
Grade: C-
This review is from the 2026 Cannes Film Festival were Paper Tiger had its world premiere In Competition. NEON will release the film theatrically in the U.S.
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