REVIEW: Orlando Bloom Gives His All In ‘Deep Cover’

Prime Video is becoming home to mid-budget American action movies and is working reasonably well. With G20 The Accountant 2 and a few more, Deep Cover (2025) fits right in. Only this one leans far into comedy with a bit of action to accent it all. An action comedy of errors, Deep Cover (2025) is directed by Tom Kingsley and written by Colin Trevorrow, Derek Connolly, Ben Ashenden, and Alexander Owen.

In Deep Cover (2025), we meet three struggling people. Kat Boyles (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a stand-up comic who has become an improv teacher, but her work visa is expiring. Marlon Swift (Orlando Bloom) is one of her students, and an actor trying to do more than advertisements, and focused on breaking his Pizza Knight persona. And then there is Hugh (Nick Mohammed), new to Kat’s classes, an IT worker, who just has no idea how to fit in at work.

After one of their improv performances, Kat is approached by Detective Sergeant Graham Billings (Sean Bean) to help him pull off a low-level police sting. Using her and two of her best (which end up being two of her worst), their first assignment, investigating counterfeit cigarettes, quickly escalates when they cross paths with mid-level criminal Fly (Paddy Considine).

But it’s not all Fly’s fault; that honor goes to Roach, the character that Marlon has chosen to play, and his inability to stop being more outrageous every time he has a chance to choose an improv path to take. Each choice they make and person they meet draws them deeper into the London underworld.

Deep Cover (2025) is all about an improv comedy of errors.

As they navigate increasingly dangerous situations, from offloading stolen cocaine to intimidating criminals, they find themselves mistaken for seasoned professionals by both the police and the criminals they’re infiltrating. And of course, Billings isn’t exactly on the up and up.

The stakes rise dramatically when the trio is ordered to execute a man, and Kat uncovers Billings’ true intentions. Now entangled with dangerous figures, including Fly’s ruthless boss Metcalfe (Ian McShane), they must find a way out when their cover is blown and their lives are on the line.

Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, and Nick Mohammed are solid as a trio. The chemistry that connects to each of them is what makes the humor in Deep Cover (2025) land. Unfortunately, when you aren’t laughing, the film starts to buckle under the weight of the plot twists. While the narrative begins to

Deep Cover (2025) has moments of frustration, but the comedy ultimately shines through. However, it’s Orlando Bloom who keeps you invested even when the convoluted nature of the plot gets in the way. A comedy of errors is the best way to describe the situation that the characters find themselves in, and everyone is uncomfortable.

That said, Bloom’s take on the going method, as Roach, is hilarious and provides an unwavering confidence that can’t be beat. The moments where Marlon peaks out of Roach’s exterior are acted extremely well, and Bloom does the switching between personas so easily that it has to be celebrated. While I will give the film itself a solid six, Orlando Bloom’s performance deserves a nine.

Orlando Bloom is the absolute best part of Prime Video’s Deep Cover. 

Bloom is visibly having an extreme amount of fun in the chaos his character’s decisions create. That said, the fact that he performs eccentricities so loudly often means that his scene partners are hard to remember. It’s not for lack of trying.

Nick Mohammed and Bryce Dallas Howard are both fine choices. Howard brings confidence to her role that balances well for the trio. And Mohammed is as endearing as you can be, which is why he alone finds some romance in all the mess. But their quietness just can’t compete with Bloom, whether by design of their characters or their performances.

On the action side, everything that works well is accidental, and that feeds into the comedy. Deep Cover (2025) may be an action-comedy, but it ultimately isn’t the film’s focus. Even when the shootouts are happening, the next laugh isn’t far behind. And on that note, the film does succeed. It is funny, though sometimes, I’m not sure it is intended to be.

Overall, Deep Cover (2025) is too convoluted for its own good, snowballing with every new decision. While this is par for the course for this kind of comedy, the issue lies with the fact that there is no structure holding it all together. Bloom’s Roach really is the main reason to stay engaged, as each new mystery or mistake layers another thing to solve for no reason on top of the last.

Deep Cover (2025) is streaming now, exclusively on Prime Video.