The real crime? That this film went straight to streaming
Deep Cover
(MA15+, 99 minutes, Prime Video)
4 stars
If you look at the elements of Deep Cover, the film really shouldn't work.
An improv comedy teacher, an unemployed wannabe serious actor and an underappreciated office worker are pulled into an undercover police sting after being scouted at an improv lesson, only to end up unwittingly infiltrating an organised crime operation.
It sounds completely ridiculous - and it is - but somehow with the truly excellent comic timing of the leads (Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammed), the snappy writing (Jurassic World's Colin Trevorrow is among the scribes) and decent production value, Deep Cover is more than the sum of its parts.
It's hard to nail down just who is the stand-out performer in this film.
Is it Howard, the lone American in the trio, putting her comedic chops to the test and playing it straight next to her more extravagant co-stars, steering the ship in the right direction?
Or is it Bloom, fully letting loose as an actor who thinks every new situation is an opportunity to create a harrowing backstory for his "character", to utterly hilarious result?
Maybe it's Ted Lasso's Mohammed, whose character is completely inept and makes you crack up in just about every scene?
Then you've got Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon) as an organised crime heavy who thinks he's stumbled upon a pack of ruthless killers to join his crew, Ian McShane (John Wick) as his unhinged Scottish boss, and Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) as the cop who recruited our protagonists.
Everyone is on their A-game, and it's their dedication to the material that really lets you just sit back and enjoy a bit of silliness for 90-odd minutes.
Deep Cover has several set pieces that any cinematic action comedy would be thrilled to have in its runtime, including a pursuit on pushbikes through London's backstreets, and an attempted escape from a seemingly endless supply of gun-toting gangsters.
Watching both the cops and hardened criminals mistake the actors for cold-blooded murderers is great value.
Our main characters - Kat, Roach and Hugh - take "yes, and" to the next level, fully living out the rules of improvisational acting amid the dangers of London's crime scene.
Deep Cover is silly, fun and unquestionably entertaining - one of the better films to debut on streaming services this year.
It's a shame this film didn't get a cinema release, or even a bigger promotional budget, because it's got the charm and entertainment value to really be a success.
Especially when you compare it to other action-based films that have hit streaming in recent months, including Viola Davis's G20 (adequate as action fare, but forgotten about by the next week), Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz vehicle Back in Action (also forgettable, and Andrew Scott is miscast), Tom Hardy's Havoc (a mess of a movie that barely deserves one star) and big-budget action sci-fi The Electric State (not completely terrible, but still less enjoyable than Deep Cover).
Audiences seem to be crying out for original films, films that aren't part of franchises or adapted from games, or remakes, but when we get them they're relegated to a streaming release and cannot make an impact at the box office.
That said, if Deep Cover does as well on Prime as it has the ability to do, there will undoubtedly be a sequel coming in the next few years.
You can imagine that if this film was conceived in the 2010s it could have a place in the cultural consciousness alongside the likes of The Other Guys, Spy or The Hitman's Bodyguard.
Deep Cover
(MA15+, 99 minutes, Prime Video)
4 stars
If you look at the elements of Deep Cover, the film really shouldn't work.
An improv comedy teacher, an unemployed wannabe serious actor and an underappreciated office worker are pulled into an undercover police sting after being scouted at an improv lesson, only to end up unwittingly infiltrating an organised crime operation.
It sounds completely ridiculous - and it is - but somehow with the truly excellent comic timing of the leads (Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammed), the snappy writing (Jurassic World's Colin Trevorrow is among the scribes) and decent production value, Deep Cover is more than the sum of its parts.
It's hard to nail down just who is the stand-out performer in this film.
Is it Howard, the lone American in the trio, putting her comedic chops to the test and playing it straight next to her more extravagant co-stars, steering the ship in the right direction?
Or is it Bloom, fully letting loose as an actor who thinks every new situation is an opportunity to create a harrowing backstory for his "character", to utterly hilarious result?
Maybe it's Ted Lasso's Mohammed, whose character is completely inept and makes you crack up in just about every scene?
Then you've got Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon) as an organised crime heavy who thinks he's stumbled upon a pack of ruthless killers to join his crew, Ian McShane (John Wick) as his unhinged Scottish boss, and Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) as the cop who recruited our protagonists.
Everyone is on their A-game, and it's their dedication to the material that really lets you just sit back and enjoy a bit of silliness for 90-odd minutes.
Deep Cover has several set pieces that any cinematic action comedy would be thrilled to have in its runtime, including a pursuit on pushbikes through London's backstreets, and an attempted escape from a seemingly endless supply of gun-toting gangsters.
Watching both the cops and hardened criminals mistake the actors for cold-blooded murderers is great value.
Our main characters - Kat, Roach and Hugh - take "yes, and" to the next level, fully living out the rules of improvisational acting amid the dangers of London's crime scene.
Deep Cover is silly, fun and unquestionably entertaining - one of the better films to debut on streaming services this year.
It's a shame this film didn't get a cinema release, or even a bigger promotional budget, because it's got the charm and entertainment value to really be a success.
Especially when you compare it to other action-based films that have hit streaming in recent months, including Viola Davis's G20 (adequate as action fare, but forgotten about by the next week), Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz vehicle Back in Action (also forgettable, and Andrew Scott is miscast), Tom Hardy's Havoc (a mess of a movie that barely deserves one star) and big-budget action sci-fi The Electric State (not completely terrible, but still less enjoyable than Deep Cover).
Audiences seem to be crying out for original films, films that aren't part of franchises or adapted from games, or remakes, but when we get them they're relegated to a streaming release and cannot make an impact at the box office.
That said, if Deep Cover does as well on Prime as it has the ability to do, there will undoubtedly be a sequel coming in the next few years.
You can imagine that if this film was conceived in the 2010s it could have a place in the cultural consciousness alongside the likes of The Other Guys, Spy or The Hitman's Bodyguard.
Deep Cover
(MA15+, 99 minutes, Prime Video)
4 stars
If you look at the elements of Deep Cover, the film really shouldn't work.
An improv comedy teacher, an unemployed wannabe serious actor and an underappreciated office worker are pulled into an undercover police sting after being scouted at an improv lesson, only to end up unwittingly infiltrating an organised crime operation.
It sounds completely ridiculous - and it is - but somehow with the truly excellent comic timing of the leads (Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammed), the snappy writing (Jurassic World's Colin Trevorrow is among the scribes) and decent production value, Deep Cover is more than the sum of its parts.
It's hard to nail down just who is the stand-out performer in this film.
Is it Howard, the lone American in the trio, putting her comedic chops to the test and playing it straight next to her more extravagant co-stars, steering the ship in the right direction?
Or is it Bloom, fully letting loose as an actor who thinks every new situation is an opportunity to create a harrowing backstory for his "character", to utterly hilarious result?
Maybe it's Ted Lasso's Mohammed, whose character is completely inept and makes you crack up in just about every scene?
Then you've got Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon) as an organised crime heavy who thinks he's stumbled upon a pack of ruthless killers to join his crew, Ian McShane (John Wick) as his unhinged Scottish boss, and Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) as the cop who recruited our protagonists.
Everyone is on their A-game, and it's their dedication to the material that really lets you just sit back and enjoy a bit of silliness for 90-odd minutes.
Deep Cover has several set pieces that any cinematic action comedy would be thrilled to have in its runtime, including a pursuit on pushbikes through London's backstreets, and an attempted escape from a seemingly endless supply of gun-toting gangsters.
Watching both the cops and hardened criminals mistake the actors for cold-blooded murderers is great value.
Our main characters - Kat, Roach and Hugh - take "yes, and" to the next level, fully living out the rules of improvisational acting amid the dangers of London's crime scene.
Deep Cover is silly, fun and unquestionably entertaining - one of the better films to debut on streaming services this year.
It's a shame this film didn't get a cinema release, or even a bigger promotional budget, because it's got the charm and entertainment value to really be a success.
Especially when you compare it to other action-based films that have hit streaming in recent months, including Viola Davis's G20 (adequate as action fare, but forgotten about by the next week), Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz vehicle Back in Action (also forgettable, and Andrew Scott is miscast), Tom Hardy's Havoc (a mess of a movie that barely deserves one star) and big-budget action sci-fi The Electric State (not completely terrible, but still less enjoyable than Deep Cover).
Audiences seem to be crying out for original films, films that aren't part of franchises or adapted from games, or remakes, but when we get them they're relegated to a streaming release and cannot make an impact at the box office.
That said, if Deep Cover does as well on Prime as it has the ability to do, there will undoubtedly be a sequel coming in the next few years.
You can imagine that if this film was conceived in the 2010s it could have a place in the cultural consciousness alongside the likes of The Other Guys, Spy or The Hitman's Bodyguard.
Deep Cover
(MA15+, 99 minutes, Prime Video)
4 stars
If you look at the elements of Deep Cover, the film really shouldn't work.
An improv comedy teacher, an unemployed wannabe serious actor and an underappreciated office worker are pulled into an undercover police sting after being scouted at an improv lesson, only to end up unwittingly infiltrating an organised crime operation.
It sounds completely ridiculous - and it is - but somehow with the truly excellent comic timing of the leads (Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammed), the snappy writing (Jurassic World's Colin Trevorrow is among the scribes) and decent production value, Deep Cover is more than the sum of its parts.
It's hard to nail down just who is the stand-out performer in this film.
Is it Howard, the lone American in the trio, putting her comedic chops to the test and playing it straight next to her more extravagant co-stars, steering the ship in the right direction?
Or is it Bloom, fully letting loose as an actor who thinks every new situation is an opportunity to create a harrowing backstory for his "character", to utterly hilarious result?
Maybe it's Ted Lasso's Mohammed, whose character is completely inept and makes you crack up in just about every scene?
Then you've got Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon) as an organised crime heavy who thinks he's stumbled upon a pack of ruthless killers to join his crew, Ian McShane (John Wick) as his unhinged Scottish boss, and Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) as the cop who recruited our protagonists.
Everyone is on their A-game, and it's their dedication to the material that really lets you just sit back and enjoy a bit of silliness for 90-odd minutes.
Deep Cover has several set pieces that any cinematic action comedy would be thrilled to have in its runtime, including a pursuit on pushbikes through London's backstreets, and an attempted escape from a seemingly endless supply of gun-toting gangsters.
Watching both the cops and hardened criminals mistake the actors for cold-blooded murderers is great value.
Our main characters - Kat, Roach and Hugh - take "yes, and" to the next level, fully living out the rules of improvisational acting amid the dangers of London's crime scene.
Deep Cover is silly, fun and unquestionably entertaining - one of the better films to debut on streaming services this year.
It's a shame this film didn't get a cinema release, or even a bigger promotional budget, because it's got the charm and entertainment value to really be a success.
Especially when you compare it to other action-based films that have hit streaming in recent months, including Viola Davis's G20 (adequate as action fare, but forgotten about by the next week), Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz vehicle Back in Action (also forgettable, and Andrew Scott is miscast), Tom Hardy's Havoc (a mess of a movie that barely deserves one star) and big-budget action sci-fi The Electric State (not completely terrible, but still less enjoyable than Deep Cover).
Audiences seem to be crying out for original films, films that aren't part of franchises or adapted from games, or remakes, but when we get them they're relegated to a streaming release and cannot make an impact at the box office.
That said, if Deep Cover does as well on Prime as it has the ability to do, there will undoubtedly be a sequel coming in the next few years.
You can imagine that if this film was conceived in the 2010s it could have a place in the cultural consciousness alongside the likes of The Other Guys, Spy or The Hitman's Bodyguard.
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Deep Cover (MA15+, 99 minutes, Prime Video) 4 stars If you look at the elements of Deep Cover, the film really shouldn't work. An improv comedy teacher, an unemployed wannabe serious actor and an underappreciated office worker are pulled into an undercover police sting after being scouted at an improv lesson, only to end up unwittingly infiltrating an organised crime operation. It sounds completely ridiculous - and it is - but somehow with the truly excellent comic timing of the leads (Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammed), the snappy writing (Jurassic World's Colin Trevorrow is among the scribes) and decent production value, Deep Cover is more than the sum of its parts. It's hard to nail down just who is the stand-out performer in this film. Is it Howard, the lone American in the trio, putting her comedic chops to the test and playing it straight next to her more extravagant co-stars, steering the ship in the right direction? Or is it Bloom, fully letting loose as an actor who thinks every new situation is an opportunity to create a harrowing backstory for his "character", to utterly hilarious result? Maybe it's Ted Lasso's Mohammed, whose character is completely inept and makes you crack up in just about every scene? Then you've got Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon) as an organised crime heavy who thinks he's stumbled upon a pack of ruthless killers to join his crew, Ian McShane (John Wick) as his unhinged Scottish boss, and Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) as the cop who recruited our protagonists. Everyone is on their A-game, and it's their dedication to the material that really lets you just sit back and enjoy a bit of silliness for 90-odd minutes. Deep Cover has several set pieces that any cinematic action comedy would be thrilled to have in its runtime, including a pursuit on pushbikes through London's backstreets, and an attempted escape from a seemingly endless supply of gun-toting gangsters. Watching both the cops and hardened criminals mistake the actors for cold-blooded murderers is great value. Our main characters - Kat, Roach and Hugh - take "yes, and" to the next level, fully living out the rules of improvisational acting amid the dangers of London's crime scene. Deep Cover is silly, fun and unquestionably entertaining - one of the better films to debut on streaming services this year. It's a shame this film didn't get a cinema release, or even a bigger promotional budget, because it's got the charm and entertainment value to really be a success. Especially when you compare it to other action-based films that have hit streaming in recent months, including Viola Davis's G20 (adequate as action fare, but forgotten about by the next week), Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz vehicle Back in Action (also forgettable, and Andrew Scott is miscast), Tom Hardy's Havoc (a mess of a movie that barely deserves one star) and big-budget action sci-fi The Electric State (not completely terrible, but still less enjoyable than Deep Cover). Audiences seem to be crying out for original films, films that aren't part of franchises or adapted from games, or remakes, but when we get them they're relegated to a streaming release and cannot make an impact at the box office. That said, if Deep Cover does as well on Prime as it has the ability to do, there will undoubtedly be a sequel coming in the next few years. You can imagine that if this film was conceived in the 2010s it could have a place in the cultural consciousness alongside the likes of The Other Guys, Spy or The Hitman's Bodyguard. Deep Cover (MA15+, 99 minutes, Prime Video) 4 stars If you look at the elements of Deep Cover, the film really shouldn't work. An improv comedy teacher, an unemployed wannabe serious actor and an underappreciated office worker are pulled into an undercover police sting after being scouted at an improv lesson, only to end up unwittingly infiltrating an organised crime operation. It sounds completely ridiculous - and it is - but somehow with the truly excellent comic timing of the leads (Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammed), the snappy writing (Jurassic World's Colin Trevorrow is among the scribes) and decent production value, Deep Cover is more than the sum of its parts. It's hard to nail down just who is the stand-out performer in this film. Is it Howard, the lone American in the trio, putting her comedic chops to the test and playing it straight next to her more extravagant co-stars, steering the ship in the right direction? Or is it Bloom, fully letting loose as an actor who thinks every new situation is an opportunity to create a harrowing backstory for his "character", to utterly hilarious result? Maybe it's Ted Lasso's Mohammed, whose character is completely inept and makes you crack up in just about every scene? Then you've got Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon) as an organised crime heavy who thinks he's stumbled upon a pack of ruthless killers to join his crew, Ian McShane (John Wick) as his unhinged Scottish boss, and Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) as the cop who recruited our protagonists. Everyone is on their A-game, and it's their dedication to the material that really lets you just sit back and enjoy a bit of silliness for 90-odd minutes. Deep Cover has several set pieces that any cinematic action comedy would be thrilled to have in its runtime, including a pursuit on pushbikes through London's backstreets, and an attempted escape from a seemingly endless supply of gun-toting gangsters. Watching both the cops and hardened criminals mistake the actors for cold-blooded murderers is great value. Our main characters - Kat, Roach and Hugh - take "yes, and" to the next level, fully living out the rules of improvisational acting amid the dangers of London's crime scene. Deep Cover is silly, fun and unquestionably entertaining - one of the better films to debut on streaming services this year. It's a shame this film didn't get a cinema release, or even a bigger promotional budget, because it's got the charm and entertainment value to really be a success. Especially when you compare it to other action-based films that have hit streaming in recent months, including Viola Davis's G20 (adequate as action fare, but forgotten about by the next week), Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz vehicle Back in Action (also forgettable, and Andrew Scott is miscast), Tom Hardy's Havoc (a mess of a movie that barely deserves one star) and big-budget action sci-fi The Electric State (not completely terrible, but still less enjoyable than Deep Cover). Audiences seem to be crying out for original films, films that aren't part of franchises or adapted from games, or remakes, but when we get them they're relegated to a streaming release and cannot make an impact at the box office. That said, if Deep Cover does as well on Prime as it has the ability to do, there will undoubtedly be a sequel coming in the next few years. You can imagine that if this film was conceived in the 2010s it could have a place in the cultural consciousness alongside the likes of The Other Guys, Spy or The Hitman's Bodyguard. Deep Cover (MA15+, 99 minutes, Prime Video) 4 stars If you look at the elements of Deep Cover, the film really shouldn't work. An improv comedy teacher, an unemployed wannabe serious actor and an underappreciated office worker are pulled into an undercover police sting after being scouted at an improv lesson, only to end up unwittingly infiltrating an organised crime operation. It sounds completely ridiculous - and it is - but somehow with the truly excellent comic timing of the leads (Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammed), the snappy writing (Jurassic World's Colin Trevorrow is among the scribes) and decent production value, Deep Cover is more than the sum of its parts. It's hard to nail down just who is the stand-out performer in this film. Is it Howard, the lone American in the trio, putting her comedic chops to the test and playing it straight next to her more extravagant co-stars, steering the ship in the right direction? Or is it Bloom, fully letting loose as an actor who thinks every new situation is an opportunity to create a harrowing backstory for his "character", to utterly hilarious result? Maybe it's Ted Lasso's Mohammed, whose character is completely inept and makes you crack up in just about every scene? Then you've got Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon) as an organised crime heavy who thinks he's stumbled upon a pack of ruthless killers to join his crew, Ian McShane (John Wick) as his unhinged Scottish boss, and Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) as the cop who recruited our protagonists. Everyone is on their A-game, and it's their dedication to the material that really lets you just sit back and enjoy a bit of silliness for 90-odd minutes. Deep Cover has several set pieces that any cinematic action comedy would be thrilled to have in its runtime, including a pursuit on pushbikes through London's backstreets, and an attempted escape from a seemingly endless supply of gun-toting gangsters. Watching both the cops and hardened criminals mistake the actors for cold-blooded murderers is great value. Our main characters - Kat, Roach and Hugh - take "yes, and" to the next level, fully living out the rules of improvisational acting amid the dangers of London's crime scene. Deep Cover is silly, fun and unquestionably entertaining - one of the better films to debut on streaming services this year. It's a shame this film didn't get a cinema release, or even a bigger promotional budget, because it's got the charm and entertainment value to really be a success. Especially when you compare it to other action-based films that have hit streaming in recent months, including Viola Davis's G20 (adequate as action fare, but forgotten about by the next week), Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz vehicle Back in Action (also forgettable, and Andrew Scott is miscast), Tom Hardy's Havoc (a mess of a movie that barely deserves one star) and big-budget action sci-fi The Electric State (not completely terrible, but still less enjoyable than Deep Cover). Audiences seem to be crying out for original films, films that aren't part of franchises or adapted from games, or remakes, but when we get them they're relegated to a streaming release and cannot make an impact at the box office. That said, if Deep Cover does as well on Prime as it has the ability to do, there will undoubtedly be a sequel coming in the next few years. You can imagine that if this film was conceived in the 2010s it could have a place in the cultural consciousness alongside the likes of The Other Guys, Spy or The Hitman's Bodyguard. Deep Cover (MA15+, 99 minutes, Prime Video) 4 stars If you look at the elements of Deep Cover, the film really shouldn't work. An improv comedy teacher, an unemployed wannabe serious actor and an underappreciated office worker are pulled into an undercover police sting after being scouted at an improv lesson, only to end up unwittingly infiltrating an organised crime operation. It sounds completely ridiculous - and it is - but somehow with the truly excellent comic timing of the leads (Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammed), the snappy writing (Jurassic World's Colin Trevorrow is among the scribes) and decent production value, Deep Cover is more than the sum of its parts. It's hard to nail down just who is the stand-out performer in this film. Is it Howard, the lone American in the trio, putting her comedic chops to the test and playing it straight next to her more extravagant co-stars, steering the ship in the right direction? Or is it Bloom, fully letting loose as an actor who thinks every new situation is an opportunity to create a harrowing backstory for his "character", to utterly hilarious result? Maybe it's Ted Lasso's Mohammed, whose character is completely inept and makes you crack up in just about every scene? Then you've got Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon) as an organised crime heavy who thinks he's stumbled upon a pack of ruthless killers to join his crew, Ian McShane (John Wick) as his unhinged Scottish boss, and Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) as the cop who recruited our protagonists. Everyone is on their A-game, and it's their dedication to the material that really lets you just sit back and enjoy a bit of silliness for 90-odd minutes. Deep Cover has several set pieces that any cinematic action comedy would be thrilled to have in its runtime, including a pursuit on pushbikes through London's backstreets, and an attempted escape from a seemingly endless supply of gun-toting gangsters. Watching both the cops and hardened criminals mistake the actors for cold-blooded murderers is great value. Our main characters - Kat, Roach and Hugh - take "yes, and" to the next level, fully living out the rules of improvisational acting amid the dangers of London's crime scene. Deep Cover is silly, fun and unquestionably entertaining - one of the better films to debut on streaming services this year. It's a shame this film didn't get a cinema release, or even a bigger promotional budget, because it's got the charm and entertainment value to really be a success. Especially when you compare it to other action-based films that have hit streaming in recent months, including Viola Davis's G20 (adequate as action fare, but forgotten about by the next week), Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz vehicle Back in Action (also forgettable, and Andrew Scott is miscast), Tom Hardy's Havoc (a mess of a movie that barely deserves one star) and big-budget action sci-fi The Electric State (not completely terrible, but still less enjoyable than Deep Cover). Audiences seem to be crying out for original films, films that aren't part of franchises or adapted from games, or remakes, but when we get them they're relegated to a streaming release and cannot make an impact at the box office. That said, if Deep Cover does as well on Prime as it has the ability to do, there will undoubtedly be a sequel coming in the next few years. You can imagine that if this film was conceived in the 2010s it could have a place in the cultural consciousness alongside the likes of The Other Guys, Spy or The Hitman's Bodyguard.
