Tribeca Festival Review: ‘Deep Cover’ is Just Silly Enough to Work as a Crime Comedy

Undercover crime stories are almost always dealt with in a dramatic manner on screen. Whether they’re action movies or straight crime dramas, laughs do tend to be at a premium. So, to see Deep Cover not only go for the laughs, but to be deeply silly about it, does give it a distinctive nature. Does all of the comedy land? Not even close. However, you’ll chuckle enough at the premise, as well as the jokes, in order to feel like your time was well spent. This is a fairly disposable work at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, but an overall effective one.

Deep Cover takes a single humorous premise and stretches it as far as it can go. There are some bumps along the way, to be sure, but watching it all play out is a fair amount of fun. What easily could have been a repetitive riff on improv acting does manage to focus more on just what might be funny in a given moment. It’s all very silly, to be sure, but lo and behold, it works.

Kat (Bryce Dallas Howard) is an improv comedy teacher in London who’s just about ready to call it quits. Wondering if she missed her shot at fame, her class is mostly filled with duds, though intense struggling actor Marlon (Orlando Bloom) and newcomer Hugh (Nick Mohammed) show some promise. One day, she’s approached by undercover cop Billings (Sean Bean) with the role of a lifetime, one that requires two additional people. Recruiting Marlon and Hugh, what’s supposed to be easy money quickly becomes something far more dangerous.

The job ends up being, due to their surprisingly effect improvisational skills, to infiltrate London’s gangland by impersonating a trio of dangerous criminals. Middle man criminal Fly (Paddy Considine) takes a liking to them and introduces them to Metcalfe (Ian McShane), the target of Billings. However, the deeper in they go, the riskier it all gets.

The trio of Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, and Nick Mohammed dive headfirst into the comedy of it all. Howard is the ringleader and the straight man of the trio, though she gets plenty of silliness to engage with. Bloom is having the most fun, going big as a self-serious actor relishing the opportunity to create increasingly violent backstories for his character. Mohammed, on the other hand, gets to lean into a bumbling nature that pairs well with his cohorts. Sean Bean, Paddy Considine, and Ian McShane are enjoying bringing their intensity to a broad comedy, even if their roles are fairly one-note. Supporting players here include Sonoya Mizuno, among others.

Director Tom Kingsley clearly believes in the script by Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow, Ben Ashenden, and Alexander Owen, allowing it to just lead the way. The movie is at its best when the “yes and” theory of improvisation is put into the London criminal underworld. The world of the flick is cliched, to be sure, but it lends itself nicely to the improv group being able to excel. It’s all silly, of course, but Kingsley keeps things moving.

Deep Cover is just funny enough to work. There aren’t many broader comedies at Tribeca this year (or any other year, frankly), but that doesn’t take away from its amusing quality. It may not be a film that will have much staying power, but as a fun little diversion, it more than works. Coming to Amazon Prime, this is the definition of an easy watch.

SCORE: ★★★