James Gray’s films often invite speculation of “Oscar potential,” but all of that Oscar hype almost entirely diminishes once the film premieres. This has been said for Ad Astra, Armageddon Time, and The Lost City of Z, with none of them turning into a success story at the Oscars. (Although Ad Astra did land one technical nomination.) But with his latest feature, Paper Tiger, premiering in competition at Cannes, many pundits assumed that he would finally make a film worthy of a major Oscar nomination. Sadly, Paper Tiger is another entry in a long trend of Oscar-bait films from Gray that have potential but fail to reach it–although films like Gray’s The Immigrant remind us that an Oscar nomination isn’t the lone stamp of success.
Two brothers, Gary (Adam Driver, Marriage Story) and Irwin (Miles Teller, Whiplash), chase the American dream with their engineering company with hopes to clean up the canals of New York City. However, they find themselves in the brutal world of violence and corruption as a simple misunderstanding with the Russian mafia spirals out of control.
What makes Paper Tiger so frustrating is that one feels its potential radiating off the screen in almost every scene. This is probably Gray’s most tense film to date, as these two brothers slowly realize their mistake with the mob is not only going to destroy them, but their families too. Whether it’s the brutal home invasion sequence, the claustrophobic shootout in the grass field, or the genuinely unnerving interrogation scene in the car, the film does an incredible job of making one feel their fear. As things spiral further out of control, the tension becomes suffocating, like the movie is slowly choking the air out of the theatre.
The performances are also strong across the board, outside of Scarlett Johansson, who is stuck with a distracting wig and what looks like too much Botox. Driver is fantastic as the arrogant brother who thinks he can stay ahead of the situation, while Teller grounds the film as the more realistic and increasingly terrified counterpart. Even the Russian mobsters are effective simply through their silence and intimidation.
The problem is that once you move past the performances and a handful of genuinely great sequences, the movie starts falling apart. Beneath all the tension, it’s ultimately stitched together from crime thriller clichés we’ve seen countless times that have been done better elsewhere. The film also gets bogged down in unnecessary side plots, especially the one involving Johansson’s character, that feel less like meaningful additions and more like forced attempts to squeeze emotion out of the audience. By the end, despite all its technical strengths, it feels like a familiar story dressed up in stronger filmmaking.
Overall, despite the strong performances and a handful of standout scenes, Paper Tiger ultimately amounts to a whole lot of nothing. That’s not to say it’s bad. The film is technically accomplished, consistently tense, and undeniably entertaining in the moment. But by the time it ends, it becomes clear that there’s nothing here we haven’t already seen before, and more importantly, nothing fresh being said. It’s essentially a collage of better crime thrillers stitched together without ever carving out its own identity.
