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The Paper Tigers

2020

Quoc Bao Tran

Alain Uy, Ron Yuan, Mykel Shannon Jenkins, Yuji Okumoto ...

5.3

63

Comedy. Action Three Kung Fu prodigies have grown into washed-up, middle-aged men, now one kick away from pulling their hamstrings. But when their master is murdered, they must juggle their dead-end jobs, dad duties, and old grudges to avenge his death.

	Author	Review
United States	Haleigh Foutch Collider	"The result isn’t just an impressive feature debut from Tran, (...) it’s an absolutely lovely time at the movies. "	POS
United States	Richard Whittaker Austin Chronicle	"Tran undoubtedly aims for an old school Hong Kong comedy martial arts movie feel, lighthearted and light on its feet (...) [A] sweet and funny action flick"	POS
Canada	Andrew Mack Screen Anarchy	"It focuses on telling a good story with good characters and letting the action be the bridge (...) The action does not suffer for this"	POS
United States	Jessica Kiang Variety	"Tran’s irresistibly good-humored debut is a diverting blend of Hong Kong and Hollywood that delivers, on a slender, Kickstarter-enhanced budget, a rousing roundhouse hug to both traditions."	POS
United Kingdom	John Berra Screendaily	"The emotional beats land just as well as the punches (...) It’s a largely harmonious blend of action, comedy and drama"	POS
Canada	Josh Bell CBR	"The three leads are charismatic and likable, with believable chemistry as bickering old friends, and the low-key humor carries most of the lulls between fight scenes"	POS
United States	David Ehrlich IndieWire	"Kung fu without honor is just fighting, but 'The Paper Tigers' always makes it feel like so much more."	POS
United States	Beatrice Loayza The New York Times	"Bao’s lighthearted, refreshing approach neither succumbs to whitewashing nor the model-minority myth. The film sticks to the action-comedy basics, which is just fine."	POS
United States	Soren Andersen Seattle Times	"Alain Uy, Ron Yuan and Mykel Shannon Jenkins (...) bring this microbudgeted (Kickstarter!) production to vivid life by virtue of their deeply empathetic performances (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United Kingdom	Leslie Felperin The Guardian	"Tran adroitly layers the fight sequences, filmed with fluidity and at least substantially performed by the main actors themselves, between frothy layers of blokey banter (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS

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