User Reviews

Plenty of solid funny parts and the martials arts stunts were well done. Story was a little bit overblown and the movie was a tad longer than it needed to be. Worth watching if you like martial arts films though.

The fighting was good, acting was good and comedy was actually funny. How is this movie boring? Don't listen to the bad reviews. If you like comedy and martial arts and not rated R stuff, this movie is for you.

Definitely not a mediocre film. I knew not to expect an Ip Man or Bloodsport type of movie. I smiled and laughed throughout film.

I'd like to mention my Asian-American heritage as a preface to this because it's the foundation for the enjoyment I got out of watching this movie.

This movie was originally pitched to Hollywood studios who wouldn't allow them a proper budget nor a non-white actor as the lead character (they wanted Bruce Willis and Nicolas Cage, I can't make this up, look it up), and I'm really glad they didn't take the deal.

The cast had great chemistry, the characters were memorable for the most part (would've liked a bit more depth to each of the 3 main characters), and the writing didn't feel pandering, and managed to maintain balance between humor and drama.

But most importantly, I can't tell you how refreshing it is to just watch a movie where Asian-Americans aren't highlighted for being Asian; the two Asian-American characters were written as Asian-American, and not just "Asian". They had Asian-American flaws, jokes, interests, even language.

The premise of this movie makes it easy to dismiss this as "just another Asian martial arts movie", but I promise it's got much more to it than that. This is definitely a movie I'd recommend to anyone.

Paper Tiger is neither a great movie nor a bad movie..it lied somewhere in the average line to me.

The opening sequence and all did look promising but it was slow paced and sometimes engaging otherwise disengaging

It has a decent enough plot with some humor lingering all over which most of the time worked

The acting is decent and I am really glad that the director declined the inclusion of Bruce willis as a white male lead and to include Nicholas Cage as requested by hwood studios and went on to start a fundraiser and made an independent movie instead with an asian american as lead and with another Asian-American and a man of color as supporting leads

The action scenes were okay and the slow motion too was bearable

I can't say it's a proper entertainer for me becoz of the reasons I mentioned above but it's definitely a good movie in my eyes.... I will definitely re-watch it in the future and see if I can enjoy it a little bit more.

This movie was a good watch. It wasn't anything crazy but it gave me a taste of what I was looking for, and then some. There was some great fighting scenes, jokes and comedy scenes that made me laugh, and the story, although a tad bit exaggerated, had me interested from beginning to end. The actors were likeable, and their flashbacks linking them to their younger selves looked good and helped me understand them a little more. I'd probably watch this movie again.

May go down in history as the first successful attempt to emulate the vibe from Cobra Kai, part martial arts, part sitcom. The cast is so appealing it is hard to look away even when nothing much is happening.

This was a really fun movie to watch with my mom - as a black person though, the slur left a bad taste in my mouth. I feel like the film could've been just as funny without it. :/

Its about a 7.5 IMHO. Standard base story we've all seen many times before (in stuff like Perfect Weapon, etc), but with the whole 'got old' brand of humour thrown in. Anyone who knows any kung fu will recognize many of the things that are lampooned gently, but it never gets mean in its humour, instead being quite respectful with the treatment of its subject matter.

Casting and characters are good, fight scenes were entertaining, and generally it was well paced. Better than any of the last few Karate Kid movies.

The Paper Tigers is an intriguing action-comedy movie that convinces with its interesting characters and their dynamic relations. The story revolves around three middle-aged men who were trained by a martial arts master three decades ago. Now that their former master has died under mysterious circumstances, they get together again to find out what has happened.

The film convinces with its intriguing characters. The former master is a generous, knowledgeable and severe man who has been taken advantage of which has led to his tragic demise. Danny has been going through a difficult divorce, is overloaded by his job and progressively alienates from his beloved son. Hing has suffered from a work injury and has trouble moving around despite keeping a positive attitude and inspiring his friends. Jim has continued a career in martial arts but holds a profound grudge against his former friends. The three friends must sort out their challenges, demons and differences in order to avenge their former master.

The Paper Tigers features some energetic martial arts choreography. Some parts are humorous, others are fast and some even have a brutal twist. This mixture keeps the film very entertaining. The final fight can be seen as the movie's climax and greatest accomplishment as it also spreads an inspiring message.

Despite the serious plot, this film includes lots of comic relief. The three main characters are clumsy in hilarious moments offering some excellent situation comedy. Some side characters such as an arrogant former rival and three clueless thugs spice things up as well.

The movie's weakest part is the plot that remains rather superficial. The story is very predictable and the motives of the villain turn out to be quite shallow.

If you plan on watching a martial arts comedy that doesn't invent anything new but that is crafted with genuine passion for the genre, you will be in for a treat with The Paper Tigers. This movie might not be creative, groundbreaking or memorable but it entertains from start to finish and offers some welcome escapism in difficult times. If you like this kind of film, I can also warmly recommend the similar Enter the Fat Dragon.

This is a film that I knew very little about going in. From a 20 second clip I saw, I was under the impression it was a Kung Fu crime film about three disciples avenging their sensei. Whilst I may be right, I was also very wrong.

TLDR at the bottom.

The film opens immediately with a dark scene of Sifu Cheung, the sensei being beaten down and eventually dying. It's this opening that takes you right in and what looks like would set the tone of the film. Then the opening credits follow which are very cool- home videos of our 3 protagonists as they grow up under the wing of Sifu Cheung and as they learn and progress with their Gung Fu. It's a neat storytelling technique as we get to see the crew behind the film. We then see our 3 protagonists in present day, much older and dealing with larger responsibilities who then go on to try and solve the mystery of their sensei's death. It's here between the 3 characters where the movie shines.

The dynamic here is what creates the surprising moments of the film, whether it's the comedy or the drama of the film. It's the heart of it. It's about 3 former students doing right by their teacher and mending their friendship and the 3 leads really play off each other well. This is a combination of the acting and the writing; the writing flows from scene to scene in a narrative that's easy to follow with the acting that brings some depth to the characters to get us on board with who they are and how they used to be. However, its just that, the narrative: It isn't any new narrative to us and it simply takes us through the narrative sort of like a video game, You play as the 3 characters, go to a location and face off against the enemy for 3 rounds, each round taking control of a new character. It's this that makes it an easy narrative to follow but doesn't hold much weight in it.

The movie is able to balance itself between being overly cheesy and being way too serious. The fight scenes bring a sense of comedy to it with the choreography being great but the scenes seem to last way too short so once you get into the fight, a knockout's already happened but you're chuckling away for the duration of the fight. The fights do hold some small weight as it brings our leads closer to the death of their sensei, but the real weight is being held by, again, the dynamic. There are some heartfelt scenes here that get you to empathise with the characters as they reminisce about the past as well as some scenes of looking at the future generation and trying to do what's right there. These scenes are welcome to the comedy film.

The ending of the film is one of the main points of highlight as it ties up storylines with each of the characters in a very feel-good fashion. However, I walked away from this film having felt satisfied to an extent with what I had just watched but didn't feel like the events of the film stayed with me, a film that'll pass your time but a film that won't stay with you: A film to watch between films.

Overall, the film as a whole was good and it seems to be flying under the radar at the moment and do hope it gets more recognition as a fun film to watch but don't expect anything deeper on it or anything mind blowing from the choreography to the narrative, to the writing. I enjoyed it but I probably won't remember much of it.

P. S. I really did enjoy the exaggerated sound effects for the fight scenes, added to the comic, video game feel.

P. P. S. What was the motivation behind the killing?!

TLDR: A very likeable film but nothing spectacular.

A wonderful movie, comedy with some drama, any guy who watched action movies with martial arts and/or practiced will really enjoy this, especially if your in your over 40, as the story is about few guys who were kong fu fighters in the 90s in there youth and today, after retired from practicing for many years, are living the boring lives of middle aged men in America, stuck with their daily routines and mediocrity, until an event is forcing them to return to their true nature of kong fu. Lot's of funny moments and scenes, a must watch!

Three middle-aged men are estranged from their Kung-Fu teacher Sifu Cheung. One is a struggling divorced dad unwilling to fight. One is out of shape and injured. One has forgotten everything. Their Sifu is found dead of a suspected heart attack. They find the cause to be some other dark force.

This is an American indie kung fu comedy. The lead tries his best but he can't do what this movie needs. This movie needs the next Jackie Chan or a rejuvenated Stephen Chow. It needs a kung fu comedic master. This lead here is only a rough copy. He makes some of this work. I can see where the jokes are coming from. He's doing an admirable job but it's not top level stuff. Carter is much more hilarious but we're laughing at him. This is a good honest effort but it doesn't rise beyond its indie sensibilities.

Why I need to watch such a movie after all these years. Okay,this type of movies are made several times. Like finding a bad guy who is disgrace to martial arts and killing people, yeah we all have to get together and try to knock him out. The movie seems bit funny at first but then the story turns out be common type of movie which had been made 100 times in past.

Pretty formulaic plot, but it's got great action and choreography, good comedy, and I appreciate the fact that it wasn't completely white washed.

Overall, a good movie.

It is a good film with all good ingredients, but something is holding it back from being amazing .. maybe the editing .. don't wanna over analyze and ruin it.

Growing up watching the Kung Fu classics I took up the martial arts in the 60's and 70's and stayed in great shape throughout the 80's and 90's...So now I feel their pain just bending over to pick up something off the floor. Seriously I laughed and felt emotion at this movie. Good cast, Good story, Good action.

This movie had some funny moments which made it fun but not really funny. The martial art sequences were pretty good but the lead characters never really had time to get back into fighting shape they merely had just enough skill left from their training to win and that was mostly luck, you become emotionally invested in the lead characters but their Sifu (master) doesn't get enough back story to make you feel bad about the fact that he died the way you would have if it was Mr. Miyagi, and the villain has a similar issue as he was just a generic Asian assassin type so you don't really get a chance to hate him the way we all hate John Kreese. I think if these two characters had been fleshed out more the viewer would have become more sympathetic to the challenges and ultimate successes of the Three Tigers.

It was refreshing to see nice old fashion fight scenes and chorography, unlike most movies now days that are full of CGI and over the top nonsense, the movie was fun to watch, interesting and likeable characters, I would recommend it.

The comedy is pretty bad - fart jokes and a guy with a wig.

The drama is a mix between boring and a simple story told so lazy it becomes complex.

The martial arts... It's basically the same scene again and again. Three guys who used to be good get into fights and demonstrate that they are no longer good.

Some of the flashbacks are good, and some of the antagonists actually demonstrate some skills. This is the reason for the 4 starts.

So to be quite honest, I just watched the movie without any search, say I took a very wild chance in it ... but it did pay out.

I don't know or remember that I have seen the actors before in anything,, but they were just really good , the story itself was complete and organized ,, and the script looked very well written .. I wouldn't put it in the very hard core Comedy genre , but it was a lighthearted one ,, as for the action , for me it kinda delivered and as I said I was very drawn to to the sequence of events.

Very recommended , watch it with the fam and enjoy .

The story premise is fun, and I think the old guys vs. Young guys aspect was also done to great comedic effect. I'm being a little generous with the '7' score because the truth is the film meanders and easily runs 20 minutes too long. It's funny at times, but mostly it's fun and not LOL funny. If some of the excess had been cut away to highlight the best stuff, it would have elevated the comedy.

However, the action was great. Really, really good stunt choreography and those scenes were always fun and not too violent. Those were the best parts of the film as they were fun, funny, exciting, and unveiled character to comedic effect.

A mediocre story and comedy. To add insult to injury, it is poorly directed. The physical comedy is childish and worse, irritating. To watch. What I did like were some of the comedic put downs and smack talking that were genuinely witty and funny. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of those witty smacktalk to overcome the old man grunting and limping that got old (no pun intended) very quickly.

Go into it with an open mind and perhaps you might find some charm in it like I did. Unfortunately it's neither a good martial arts film nor a good comedy meriting a second watch.

This was quite a fun little flick. Normally I go looking for martial arts films filled with top notch and masterful fighting. This...was not that. It was instead a fun little comedy about what happens to us as we get older and forget what's important in life.