Deep Cover Review: Orlando Bloom Steals the Show in Colin Trevorrow-produced Fun, High-Concept Crime Comedy
Deep Cover boasts a high-concept premise, coming from co-producer and writer Colin Trevorrow: An unlikely trio of struggling improv comedians are hired to go deep undercover to infiltrate the most-wanted criminal organisation. Sounds like a whole lot of fun, and the movie even goes as far as enlisting Bryce Dallas Howard and Orlando Bloom to play two of the aforementioned improv comedians. Howard previously proved her comedic chops in the wildly entertaining but overlong spy comedy Argylle last year, and it’s nice to see her let loose again, this time playing Kat, a coach teaching aspiring students to master improv comedy.
Kat may have been a good teacher, but her own career remains in limbo. Next is Marlon (Orlando Bloom), an ambitious actor who loves to go full method like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, only to be stuck with menial jobs, including dressing up in a silly costume as a mascot while desperately looking for a big break. Then, there’s Hugh (Nick Mohammed of Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso fame), a socially awkward IT worker who often gets bullied by his colleagues in the office.
One night, while stumbling upon Kat’s improv classes, Hugh decides to give them a try. All three have one thing in common: a chance to prove themselves, and they somehow get it, but not in the way they would expect: A narcotics cop named Detective Billings (a grizzled Sean Bean) shows up at Kat’s improv classes and offers them 200 quid each. Their job? Use their improv skills to go undercover as drug dealers for a criminal, Fly (Paddy Considine).
It’s fun watching the trio improvise as they go, with Orlando Bloom’s deadpan delivery acting as a tough gangster, particularly stealing the show. Of course, things get complicated as they soon find themselves dealing with a notorious criminal kingpin, Metcalfe (an imposing Ian McShane, a refreshing change of pace for the actor commonly associated with his smooth-talking Winston in the John Wick movie series and the recent spinoff release of Ballerina).
The overall comedy, however, is a hit-and-miss affair — the very one thing that I wish director Tom Kingsley and co-writers — four, to be exact — including Trevorrow, Derek Connolly, Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen could be more consistent in delivering the laughs. Still, Deep Cover remains watchable, thanks largely to the game cast all around. Bloom may have been the centre of the attention here, but his other co-stars, Bryce Dallas Howard and the nerdy Nick Mohammed, all play off each other well. Paddy Considine brings solid support to his gangster turn as Fly, and so does the plucky Sonoya Mizuno as Fly’s associate.
The first half is pretty much a mixed bag, despite plenty of worthwhile moments in between, but it was the second half that got better. The movie juices up with a twist and deeper troubles. Complicating matters is a pair of bumbling detectives out to capture the trio, resulting in a series of irreverent fun, one of which revolves around the hilarious nighttime bike rental chase. The action isn’t particularly Kingsley’s forte since most of them are hastily put together.
Again, it was the cast that brought this altogether. Moments of levity like the one where the man-up Hugh uses a rolled-up paper tube to snort a line of cocaine and Marlon threatens to kill everyone using a fake grenade help to keep the pace going. Not to forget, an extended moment where Kat tries to distract her friends by pouring out a confession about her so-called personal issue, so Marlon can sneak away with the car key.
Deep Cover is currently streaming on Prime Video.
