Paper Tiger (2026) Review: A Fresh Entry in the Mob Drama Genre!
Family can be both a blessing and a curse. There is no group of people who can build us up or take us down harder than those intertwined in the bonds of a family. Siblings are on an entirely different level. It is easiest to compare ourselves with brothers and sisters who were raised the same way, yet go through life on a totally different path than ourselves. This is sometimes where strain begins to show between family members, where success is measured in a variety of ways and understood differently by everyone.
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James Gray’s new film Paper Tiger, starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Miles Teller, examines how a small tight knit family becomes involved with the Russian mob in ways they never dream of. It is a film about the choices we make, mistakes made along the way, and how family can either get us through or tear us apart. Premiering at the 64th New York Film Festival, Paper Tiger is a mob drama with enough elevated performances and sharp camerawork to become a fresh entry in the genre.
Irwin Pearl (Miles Teller) is living a life of success in that he has his wife Hester (Scarlett Johansson) and beautiful children Scott (Gavin Goudey) and Ben (Roman Engel), a portrait of the American Dream in 1980s New York. His brother Gary (Adam Driver), a former and respected cop, portrays a more materialistic version of success, visiting Irwin and Hester with an expensive Peter Luger feast served in their home when we first meet him.
Gary proposes a business connection to his brother Irwin in which Irwin would use his engineering skills to help consult a group of Russian businessmen regarding regulations and logistics connected to the polluted waterways that the Russians have control over. One night when Irwin brings his teenage boys to the facility to check it out on a “family field trip” Irwin finds himself in deep water with the Russians upon seeing something he shouldn’t have. Now with his family in danger, Irwin and Gary must figure out how to get themselves out of a mess that inevitably seems hopeless amongst the power of the mob.
James Gray brings his audience right in the middle of the Pearl’s family story, giving them a set of chapters in their lives with a true ending long out of sight after the credits roll. He sets the scene with enough precision and introduction to color a family history that has expanded for decades. The audience feels like they are walking into an established family drama with an understanding of their dynamics and personalities while saving the major dilemma for our eyes on the screen.
In the way the story unfolds, there is an aftermath that will occur once the film concludes that leaves the audience with a sense of despair, yet hopeful feeling they will carry on. This allows Gray to create a slower unraveling of tension throughout, drawing focus on the family’s dilemma and fear as to how they will recover.
Paper Tiger’s focus on the layered and hierarchical relationship of Gary and Irwin display a clear look at how familial relationships can be both essential and dangerous. James Gray does a wonderful job of examining the nuanced relationship between the two brothers where Gary has always seen a need to keep his little brother under his wing, assuming his need to protect and lead his brother.
We get this sense when Gary is introduced, informing his brother of a business opportunity that would bring the two brothers into business together, displaying a sense of superiority towards his brother. Gary sees success through money, and status, unable to see the success his brother has through a more domestic way of living.
Because of this, Gary brings Irwin into a hostile environment that only continues to destroy the family and the safety of their teenage sons. It provides a commentary on how siblings see a need to “support” each other and lead each other when there is a sense of power visible from one brother to the other. What Gary sees as his duty to help his brother financially results in bringing Irwin into a situation that puts his life and his family’s in peril.
Paper Tiger creates a burning tension from scene to scene that mirrors a stage play. Here the audience has a sense of where the characters will end up as decisions begin to build up, foreshadowing to the eventual climax. The script feels tight in its focus, developing characters that feel both relatable and shaped to fit their expectations and societal duties in 1980s New York. The fear that suffocates Irwin can be felt through the intensely dark Russian mob characterized in a way that feels familiar cinematically but enhanced as it relates to the dangers they pose to Irwin’s children.
Although there is a decent sense of understanding regarding Irwin and Gary’s decades long relationship, it would have been even stronger to incorporate more clues and information on their brotherhood and the power dynamics that were visible there. This would have displayed an even deeper sense of hold that Gary had on Irwin, resulting in Irwin blindly accepting his brother’s business proposition because of his immediate trust.
All in all, Paper Tiger (2026) displays its influences on its sleeve but still allows itself to attract audiences to the characters it explores and the familial drama at hand.
‘Paper Tiger (2026)’ Rating – 3.75/5
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