Deep Cover (2025) is directed by Tom Kingsley, featuring a screenplay by Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow, Ben Ashenden, and Alexander Owen. It stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, Nick Mohammed, Paddy Considine, Sonoya Mizuno, Sean Bean, Ian McShane, Ben Ashenden, Alexander Owen, Leart Dokle, Omid Djalili, Nneka Okoye, and Freya Parker. The film follows Kat (Howard), a struggling improv coach who’s recruited by a desperate detective (Bean) to work as an undercover agent. In need of a payday, Kat accepts the offer. Requiring partners, she enlists two of her students—Marlon (Bloom), a skilled but boneheaded actor, and Hugh (Mohammed), a hopeless romantic desperate to lead a meaningful life. Out on a seemingly routine operation, the trio soon find themselves in over their heads when their near-comical commitment to their characters earns them an impressive reputation with local criminals. Now closer to nailing the top dogs than ever before, the authorities force the trio to continue their farce. The question is, how long can they keep up the act before they’re faced with dire consequences?

This is a light, often silly film featuring a refreshingly original premise, but it requires the viewer to suspend their disbelief consistently. It’s frequently a film filled with plot holes and mistaken identity cliches, but ultimately works due to the committed performances from the main cast. Bryce Dallas Howard doesn’t bring anything particularly new to her role, but once again proves herself to be a serviceable lead. She’s well-cast, likable, and seems keenly aware that just because she’s playing the main character, that doesn’t mean she’s the primary source of entertainment. 

Nick Mohammed plays a character who’s similar to his breakout role as Nathan Shelby in Ted Lasso (2020-), a nervous but likable dork who lacks confidence and is ultimately the project’s beating heart. There’s something sweet about a guy who only joins improv in a lazy attempt to meet women, but almost immediately falls in love with the art form. The only issue I have with the character is that, for some unexplained reason, Kat immediately chooses him as one of her partners, despite him having only attended one class and clearly knowing nothing about improv. You’d think that in such a dangerous context, she’d choose the best actors she knows. I guess they all had plans or something? One throwaway line of dialogue could’ve fixed this, but it instead remains as a glaring plot hole. 

The scene-stealer of the three leads is easily Orlando Bloom as Marlon, an extremely skilled performer whose Achilles heel is his intense method acting. He’s so committed to his fake tough guy persona that it constantly makes their situation more dangerous. In his mind, he’s such a good actor that he’s willing to die so he can prove it, which is more hilarious than I ever could’ve expected. Sometimes, it’s possible to take a job too seriously—actors being the most common offenders. Admitting that it’s not a matter of life and death will probably earn you the job faster than acting like it is. Employers definitely like someone who’s committed, but not if that means they’re also delusional. 

The supporting cast, which includes Sean Bean, Paddy Considine, and Sonoya Mizuno, is also a lot of fun. Even those with less substantial roles succeed at making their mark, and the script never forgets to humanize them. This supports the film’s feel-good tone, but never goes so far that it feels contrived. How the script humanizes these characters is natural and authentic, which causes the otherwise cynically crowd-pleasing moments to feel honestly earned.

Although the script asks the viewer to ignore a lot and just go along with it, this does result in a swift pace that flows easily from one scene to the next. It’s also nice that the premise feels truly fresh. It allows us to forgive the script’s leaps in logic because, no matter how unrealistic, the premise is one that we want to see play out. 

Overall, this is a fun, serviceably funny comedy with a fresh premise and capable lead performances. These aspects elevate the film above typical straight-to-streaming releases, but that doesn’t necessarily mean this is some kind of classic. The closest I could see is the improv community adopting it as a cult classic. That being said, there’s enough here also to satisfy people who haven’t acted a day in their lives. It’s all very surface-level stuff, but it has the rare ability to induce smiles even when the material leaves something to be desired. B