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Deep Cover is a comedy along the lines of The Spy Who Dumped Me, Murder Mystery or Ghosted where normal people suddenly get mixed up in some dangerous adventure and have to face off against violent criminals that they have absolutely no hope of beating. The difference here is that, despite having famous Californian Bryce Dallas Howard in the lead role, this film is British. It also stands out against those other movies in that it is actually quite good. 

I have to be honest, I wasn’t optimistic. As indicated I’ve not been massively impressed with films of this nature in the past, they too often rely on the likability of the cast and their ability to effectively deliver the handful of funny lines, while not really bothering with any decent plotting or narrative surprises. Also consider that this is debuting on Amazon Prime, who have not had the same success in bringing big new star studded movies to audiences as a lot of the other streamers. The brilliant Palm Springs was released by them (probably only because of COVID) but typically they have launched things like Another Simple Favor, You’re Cordially Invited, Red One, Space Cadet, Jackpot!, Robots, The Idea of You, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and Red, White & Royal Blue. Sure some of these have their moments, I might be a bit of an apologist for that last one in particular, but they don’t really compare to Netflix’s high profile debuts like The Power of the Dog, Marriage Story, All Quiet of the Western Front, Mank, Roma, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio do they? The central cast didn’t hugely inspire me either; Howard couldn’t save her last two movies, Argylle and Jurassic World: Dominion, Orlando Bloom has enjoyed better arcs in his career and funny as he is I’m still cross at Nick Mohammed because of how his character behaved in Ted Lasso. 

Deep Cover works though. The jokes are funny and the story engaging, and neither relies heavily on the other. It is well shot in real locations, you never quite know where it is going, the supporting cast offer proper support and the characterisation suits the main actors really, really well. Bloom is especially good. 

The story, originally authored by Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connelly (leaning more on their Safety Not Guaranteed sensibilities rather than those displayed in their work on all of the Jurassic World films) and given a run over by UK comedy writers Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen (who also appear as mismatched cops), sees three improv artists of various proficiency recruited to go under cover among London mobsters. They are pretty quickly out of their depth but stay afloat longer than expected through a mix of quick thinking, hubris, naivety, luck and a surprising willingness to take things to the edge when necessary. 

Of these types of movies, this is a very strong example then. It is possible that as a Brit I responded to it more than I might have done otherwise; much of what is here feels familiar from UK TV, but it offers a genuinely entertaining hour and forty minutes and I say to watch it and see where it leads.