Adam Driver, Miles Teller, and Scarlett Johansen star in writer/director James Gray’s crime drama Paper Tiger.
Paper Tiger, the newest film by writer/director James Gray, could have easily been called Quicksand. The dramatic thriller about a family who get into bed with the Russian Mob in the late 1980s quickly sinks into the threat of that crime organization. Starring a trio of excellent performances led by Adam Driver, Gray’s film is both modern in its existential dread and classic in its form and style.
Working-class brothers Gary (Driver) and Irwin (Miles Teller) both dream of a better life. Gary, an ex-cop, wants the flash that the films of the 1980s promised. Irwin, an engineer, just wants to be able to pay for his son’s college and give his wife, Hester (Scarlett Johansson), the house she wants. When Gary proposes starting a consulting firm, both see their respective dreams within reach. Even more so when Gary gets them a contract to clean the Gowanus Canal. The deal quickly turns sour when Irwin decides to take his son with him on a night run to the site, seeing more than they should have, even if they don’t know what they’ve seen. Irwin’s middle-class existence is shaken to its very core by the Russian mobsters behind the deal Gary made. They’re intent on getting the obstinate Gary to comply with their demands no matter the cost.
James Gray has been making these kinds of slow-burn crime dramas since his debut feature (Little Odessa). Paper Tiger may be the most refined study of the family dynamics that play out over choices made that bend or break the law. Driver, Teller, and Johansson are all excellent as the trio of adults in the pressure cooker of a situation. Though it’s Gavin Goudey and Roman Engel who play the sons that steal the show. Goudey and Engel give truly inspired and terrifying performances that show what the violence can do to someone.
A slow twist of the knife into the belly of an audience, Paper Tiger wrings tension out of the disquieting space that inhabits the threat of violence. Gray less interested in bombast of exploitative violence, the director examines the pressure and duress a family is under when good intentions go sour and the only person capable of action cannot see the sharks he swims with until it’s too late. Even during its set pieces, Gray puts a human face to the violence.
Paper Tiger is one of the most captivating, dynamic, and heartbreaking films of 2026 and one of its best.
Adam Driver, Miles Teller, and Scarlett Johansen star in writer/director James Gray’s crime drama Paper Tiger.
Paper Tiger, the newest film by writer/director James Gray, could have easily been called Quicksand. The dramatic thriller about a family who get into bed with the Russian Mob in the late 1980s quickly sinks into the threat of that crime organization. Starring a trio of excellent performances led by Adam Driver, Gray’s film is both modern in its existential dread and classic in its form and style.
Working-class brothers Gary (Driver) and Irwin (Miles Teller) both dream of a better life. Gary, an ex-cop, wants the flash that the films of the 1980s promised. Irwin, an engineer, just wants to be able to pay for his son’s college and give his wife, Hester (Scarlett Johansson), the house she wants. When Gary proposes starting a consulting firm, both see their respective dreams within reach. Even more so when Gary gets them a contract to clean the Gowanus Canal. The deal quickly turns sour when Irwin decides to take his son with him on a night run to the site, seeing more than they should have, even if they don’t know what they’ve seen. Irwin’s middle-class existence is shaken to its very core by the Russian mobsters behind the deal Gary made. They’re intent on getting the obstinate Gary to comply with their demands no matter the cost.
James Gray has been making these kinds of slow-burn crime dramas since his debut feature (Little Odessa). Paper Tiger may be the most refined study of the family dynamics that play out over choices made that bend or break the law. Driver, Teller, and Johansson are all excellent as the trio of adults in the pressure cooker of a situation. Though it’s Gavin Goudey and Roman Engel who play the sons that steal the show. Goudey and Engel give truly inspired and terrifying performances that show what the violence can do to someone.
A slow twist of the knife into the belly of an audience, Paper Tiger wrings tension out of the disquieting space that inhabits the threat of violence. Gray less interested in bombast of exploitative violence, the director examines the pressure and duress a family is under when good intentions go sour and the only person capable of action cannot see the sharks he swims with until it’s too late. Even during its set pieces, Gray puts a human face to the violence.
Paper Tiger is one of the most captivating, dynamic, and heartbreaking films of 2026 and one of its best.
Paper Tiger is only in theaters on November 13th.
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