Deep Cover

Directed by Tom Kingsley, Deep Cover follows an improv teacher (Bryce Dallas Howard’s Kat) as she and two pupils (Orlando Bloom’s Marlon and Nick Mohammed’s Hugh) agree to go undercover for the police. It’s a fun premise that is, for the most part, employed to entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny effect by Kingsley, as the filmmaker, armed with a screenplay by Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow, Ben Ashenden, and Alexander Owen, delivers a briskly-paced comedy that’s enhanced by the top-shelf efforts of its various performers, with Howard’s grounded, affable turn as the movie’s protagonist matched (and often exceeded) by Bloom and Mohammed’s often hilarious work here. (Mohammed’s MVP performance remains an ongoing highlight, as does the high-water-mark sequence wherein his character is forced to do three lines of cocaine.) And although the picture admittedly does peter out slightly within its action-heavy third act, Deep Cover, which also boasts scene-stealing appearances by such first-class periphery players as Paddy Considine, Sean Bean, and Ian McShane, ultimately comes off as a high-concept endeavor that lives up to the massive potential afforded by its irresistible setup.

*** out of ****