Adam Driver as ‘Gary Pearl.’ Click to view the trailer. Photograph: NEON/CINEMANSE OY
Paper Tiger lives up to its title: the star-studded cast of Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller looks great on the poster, but the story swamps the actors’ talent, playing like a two-hour drum solo.
This time it’s not Teller cooking up a steaming performance on the edge of his physical limits, as he did playing jazz drummer Andrew Neiman in the phenomenal Whiplash; instead it’s Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman) taking the driver’s seat (pun may be intended) in the crime drama set in Queens, New York in 1986.
As Gary Pearl, an ex-cop turned consultant for a shady construction business, Driver recalls De Niro, bringing a similarly hard-edged intensity to the role. He drags his engineer brother, Irwin (Teller), into a deal with Russian gangsters, Hollywood’s most reliable and long-standing cinematic trope.
The shit deal hits the fan, and soon enough, Irwin’s car is literally trashed with human waste, and Russian gangsters are knocking on the door. Needless to say, Irwin’s wife Hester (a terrific Scarlett Johansson) and his sons Nate (Gavin Goudey) and Leo (Roman Engel) are scared shitless.
Neither Gary nor Irwin likes the situation, so Gary lashes a couple of gangsters with his belt and gives Irwin a small pistol.
James Gray (Ad Astra, We Own the Night) penned this hard-edged but unengaging and cliche-infused drama, which struggles to hold the viewer’s attention across its two-hour runtime.
In the end, Paper Tiger is little more than the sound of Adam Driver drumming alone.
‘Paper Tiger’ was an official selection at the 39th Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy and is scheduled for theatrical release on November 20.
FILM DETAILS
Title: Paper Tiger
Cast: Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Miles Teller
Director: James Gray
Composer: Christopher Spelman
Screenwriter: James Gray
