Deep Cover Review
- Matt Hill
- Jun 15, 2025
- 2 min read
Runtime: 1h 40m Genre: Crime/Comedy Release Date: 12th June 2025
Plot: Three struggling Improv comics go undercover to help a low-level drug bust, only to find things begin to escalate rapidly.
Thoughts
There's something great about absurd comedy plots that tread the line of ridiculous believability. One of the most recent hits was 2011's Horrible Bosses, which saw Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis and Jason Bateman on great form planning to kill each other's bosses. The story was silly, but the central trio carried the movie to great results, and just like that central trio, Deep Cover delivers movie-goers another round of charismatic leads in a silly plot with ever-escalating laughs.
The plot follows Kat (Bryce Dallas Howard), an improv comedy teacher, who enlists two of her students: Marlon (Orlando Bloom), a serious method actor who is trying to escape advertising acting, and class newbie tech supporter Hugh (Nick Mohammed). The trio are hired by Detective Billings (Sean Bean) to help assist in a low-level drug bust, only to get swept up in London's underworld drug peddling scene.
Deep Cover does a great job of balancing its action and laughs. The central trio of Howard, Bloom and Mohammed have great chemistry and bounce off of each other well, especially when the absurd scenarios see them thinking on their feet and reacting to each other's prompts. Despite the great turns by Mohammed and Howard, it's the super-serious method of Marlon, an Orlando Bloom in comedic best form, giving the film many of its best sequences and laughs as he unintentionally ramps up every scenario as his 'character' would.
The central story is also better than you may expect, with some satisfying twists and turns to keep the crime tale unravelling in unexpected but rewarding ways. It's worth noting that the film does lose some of its steam the closer it nears its conclusion; it's not a big slowdown, but it certainly drops down a gear as the stakes are raised.
In a Nutshell
Deep Cover works better than you'd imagine, delivering an entertaining comedy disguised as a twisting crime tale. The central trio of Bloom, Howard and Mohammed are on fantastic form, backed by plenty of great moments that keep the action moving and comedy coming in unexpected but hilarious ways.
3.5/5
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