Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammad lead an action comedy as a trio of improv comics tossed into the dangerous game of espionage. Deep Cover may not be a title that’s caught your attention as it’s easily been sliding under the radar, but from Safety Not Guaranteed creatives Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, alongside two other Jurassic World alum - this script harnesses a sharp indie charm.  

 

An action comedy that is considerably lackluster on the action front, the film starts with an action set piece and its loud, fast-paced and holds no stakes. Director Tom Kingsley’s filmography doesn’t scream action oriented filmmaking and after his attempts here, it should probably remain that way. However, Kingsley enhances the comedy forward screenplay with the pairing of our three leads. 

 

All three bring their own distinct personality to the table when going undercover and Orlando Bloom stands out as Marlon, an actor wanting to truly dive into his method to an obsessive degree. Howard is the anchor of the group as Kat, not afraid to take charge in calm persuasive exchanges - but her comedy she’s more so the straight performance out of the three. Mohammed, known to many as Nate from Ted Lasso, plays Hugh, a man coming out of this shell, finding his footing in improv in the most dire of situations. The chemistry is distinct and there’s a fun fluid sense of humor between the three, while not all the jokes land as they should - there’s an allure to every attempt. 

 

Sean Bean, Paddy Constantine, Sonoya Mizuno, and Ian McShane all play a considerable role in the film - tasking the trio in a game of life and death for a majority of the runtime. All four are terrific in their roles and if it was possible to have more of them and less of the comedic relief that is the police detectives — I’d prefer to have that version. The two detectives played by Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen assist in the story as yet another force looking to throw a wrench into the overarching plan. The comedy here sadly is overindulgent and just runs on the edge of cringe-humor that I wouldn’t be surprised if it was truly improvised because it’s so drastically different than every other line of dialogue. 

 

The story can get a little convoluted in time as the improv comics go undercover to deep cover to deep deep cover. Subplots hold the overall film back with Kat’s friends, the detectives, and another section of the criminal underworld coming off as fluff to fill in the gaps, rather than fleshed out parts of the story that assist the story to its ultimate destination. 

 

With four writers attached, the multiple subplots that loosely attach to the main narrative is much more explainable when there’s too many writers at the keyboard. The poster does this film no favors as the film hiding behind the artwork is a funny, lighthearted comedy that suffers from a cluster of forced subplots and lackluster action. Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, and Nick Mohammed are an unexpected triumph in casting - a dynamic trio.