An improv comedy teacher begins to question if she’s missed her shot at success. When an undercover cop offers her the role of a lifetime, she recruits two of her students to infiltrate London’s gangland by impersonating dangerous criminals. A film by Tom Kingsley, starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, Nick Mohammed, Paddy Considine, Sonoya Mizuno, Ian McShane, Ben Ashenden, Alexander Owen, Omid Djalili, Nneka Okoye, Freya Parker, Sophie Duker, Susannah Fielding, Katy Wix, and Sean Bean.
DEEP COVER
Tom Kingsley
(2025)
After an improv showcase at The Comedy Store, Detective Sergeant Graham Billings (Sean Bean) approaches Kat (Bryce Dallas Howard), a struggling improv teacher, claiming he’s been watching her for a while and wants to recruit her for a Metropolitan Police program that uses improvisers for low-level stings against counterfeiters. He offers $200 each, and Kat needs to bring two more people since the operatives always work in threes.
Initially, Kat has her eye on her best students Laura (Assa Kanoute) and Siena (Ania Magliano), but when she learns they’ve just been signed to perform at Soho House, she ends up enlisting aspiring actor Marlon (Orlando Bloom) and socially awkward IT worker Hugh (Nick Mohammed).
The next day, Billings briefs them on their first assignment, explaining a citywide uptick in counterfeit cigarette sales. Their mission is to go into a shop down the road and ask for “something more affordable.” He hands Kat a phone and instructs her to call him before entering the shop so he can record their conversation.
What’s supposed to be an easy sting operation escalates into something much bigger when Marlon strikes up a conversation with shop owner Nico (Anthony Rotsa), leading Nico to believe he’s looking to buy cocaine to sell. Nico calls his supplier and agrees to drive them to meet the supplier himself.
There, they meet mid-level criminal dealer Fly (Paddy Considine) and his second-in-command Shosh (Sonoya Mizuno). Fly offers three bricks of 70% pure cocaine he got from the Albanians that he needs to offload in exchange for $50,000. However, they’re interrupted when Albanian leader Skender (Leart Dokle) and his gang barge in to reclaim the cocaine Fly stole.
Kat quickly improvises and cons Skender into believing the cocaine isn’t his because Fly is buying, not selling. She explains that Fly has offered to buy her cocaine for 50K, but she’s willing to sell to the highest bidder. Skender eventually pays for the cocaine. Impressed, Fly invites the group to come back if they ever need work.
DEEP COVER is an action-comedy directed by English filmmaker Tom Kingsley and written by Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow, Ben Ashenden, and Alexander Owen.
The film follows three improv actors who get recruited by a detective sergeant to help with low-level sting operations against counterfeiters. What starts as small-time undercover work quickly spirals out of control when the actors find themselves caught up in London’s most dangerous criminal organization.
The cast delivers impressive performances, particularly Orlando Bloom, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Sonoya Mizuno. The narrative is well-written and engaging throughout. While it drags in places, the film remains quite entertaining.
The movie truly comes alive when all three main characters (Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, and Nick Mohammed) are on screen together. Their chemistry feels authentic, as if they’re genuinely improvising, and it’s hilarious watching unexpected moments unfold naturally between them. Unfortunately, the film loses some of its momentum when it shifts focus to each character individually.
Sean Bean has become my personal movie quality meter, and I suspect I’m not alone in this. Films with Sean Bean in them are usually decent at minimum. But if his character dies, that’s when a film typically elevates from good to great in my opinion. As you can probably guess from my rating of this film, his character doesn’t make it to the end.
DEEP COVER was released on Amazon Prime Video on 12 June 2025.
