Plot: Kat, an improv comedy teacher, is questioning if she’s missed her shot at success. When an undercover cop offers her the role of a lifetime, she recruits two of her students to infiltrate London’s gangland by impersonating dangerous criminals.
Review: Count me as surprised, but Deep Cover is very funny. With the trailer dropping just a month ago, the Prime Video exclusive debuted on the streaming service today. Starring a pretty solid cast including Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, and Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed, Deep Cover looked like the type of forgettable vehicle that often gets relegated to a digital premiere these days. Nevertheless, the film, co-written by Jurassic World‘s Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, is a hilarious comedy full of violence, profanity, and engaging characters. Clocking in at just over ninety minutes, Deep Cover is counterprogramming used to complement summer box office tentpoles. Luckily, you don’t have to head to the theater for this one and can enjoy it over Father’s Day weekend.
Deep Cover introduces Kat (Bryce Dallas Howard), an aspiring American actress who has spent years living in London trying to become a star. One day, mild-mannered Hugh (Nick Mohammed) wanders into her improv class, where he is excited to be partnered with actor Marlon (Orlando Bloom), a wannabe Al Pacino who is often stuck playing roles in commercials. One night, Billings (Sean Bean) approaches Kat with an offer to become an undercover operative for the Metro Police to uncover counterfeit cigarette sales. Kat enlists Marlon and Hugh to pose as criminals, but the Method acting Marlon gets them in over their heads. Next thing, the three are buying drugs from Fly (Paddy Considine) and his associate Shosh (Sonoya Mizuno) and facing off with a gang of Albanians. Next thing they know, Billings is having them go deeper than ever to uncover Fly’s operation.
As the actors get into their characters, the stakes get raised when they are sent to collect on behalf of Fly and his boss, Metcalfe (Ian McShane). At the same time, inspectors Dawes (Ben Ashenden) and Beverley (Alexander Owen) are on the trail of the improv actors turned criminals without knowledge of Billings’ operation. As the three try to figure their way out of the mess, they try to dodge bullets, get recognized by friends, and deal with a body count that rises quickly. The film never shies away from letting the blood flow and the profanity fly as Kat, Hugh, and Marlon blur the line between acting skills and the actual threat of getting killed. It sounds like it could be the plot of a thriller, but Deep Cover plays light with the comedy while still managing to keep the stakes real.
Because the film keeps the three main characters from becoming cliches, Deep Cover bounces their very different personalities off one another wonderfully. Nick Mohammed plays a slight variation on his Ted Lasso character as Hugh is an awkward and bumbling but overall sweet guy who loses his mind when snorting cocaine. Orlando Bloom plays Marlon as an actor with aspirations of being an incredible thespian, and seeing him inhabit the craziest backstories possible is hilarious. Bryce Dallas Howard is also great at keeping Kat in character and playing a badass while simultaneously struggling with her career, which never took off. So much of the film focuses on the three in character that it loses some momentum when we see them in their real lives, but that is a minimal element of the film. Sean Bean is quite good with a different accent than usual, while Paddy Considine and Sonoya Mizuno are fun supporting characters. Ian McShane, as always, plays a fantastic villain, and his Scottish accent adds to the playful nature of the film.
Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly do great with the script, their first project since Jurassic World Dominion and the unfilled Star Wars: Duel of the Fates. Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen updated their script, shifting the story to London and adding some new flavor to the film. Deep Cover is directed by Tom Kingsley, who is best known for directing British shows, including Ghosts and Doctor Who. Kingsley gives the action sequences a nice pacing that helps the fight scenes be propulsive without losing sight of the humor. It is hard to tell where the improv element ends and what is due to the chemistry of the entire ensemble. However, all of the cast, whether classically trained or with comedy experience, make this movie funny from beginning to end. Some subplot elements don’t feel as resolved as they could have been, but that is a minor nitpick, as this movie is way better than anyone is giving it credit for.
With R-rated comedies rarely hitting the big screen, Deep Cover is a surprising and welcome alternative to what is playing on the big screen this weekend. A quick watch and one you will not regret, Deep Cover shows a different side to Orlando Bloom that will hopefully open more comedy roles for him. Equally, Bryce Dallas Howard indicates here what I had hoped to see from her in Argylle, a comedy-action role that showed her as wooden. Howard is a light, fun, and great complement to her co-stars here. Deep Cover is well worth checking out and proves that not every big movie that hits a streaming service was dumped. This movie would have been a success on the big screen back in the day.
Deep Cover is now streaming on Prime Video.
Source:
JoBlo.com