Deep Cover (2025 film)

Deep Cover is a 2025 British action comedy film starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammed as improv actors recruited by the police for undercover operations in the London criminal underworld, where they must use their skills to infiltrate a gang. Paddy Considine, Ian McShane and Sean Bean appear in supporting roles. The film was directed by Tom Kingsley and written by Colin Trevorrow, Derek Connolly, Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen. Deep Cover was released worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on 12 June 2025.

Kat Bryant, a struggling stand-up comedian and improv teacher in London, is approached by Detective Sergeant Graham Billings of the Metropolitan Police to recruit actors for low-level sting operations. She enlists two students—Marlon Swift, an aspiring actor, and Hugh, a socially awkward IT worker—to form a trio.^[2]

The group is sent to investigate a shop selling counterfeit cigarettes, which leads them to Fly, a mid-level criminal dealer. When Fly offers them stolen cocaine to offload, Kat cons the rival Albanian gang into buying back their own drugs. Impressed, Fly recruits the trio, and Billings encourages them to continue undercover.

Operating under aliases, they intimidate a man named Sagar, who dies while fleeing. Detective Inspector Dawes leads the official investigation into the death. Mistaken for professional criminals by police, the trio gain credibility within Fly's circle. They are later sent to negotiate with another dealer, but the deal collapses. Kat discovers Billings is corrupt and using them for personal gain. He is soon killed by Fly's associate, Shosh.

Metcalfe, Fly's boss, attempts to identify Billings' associates by hacking his phone, so the trio races to interrupt it. However, the phone turns out to be a trap, and Metcalfe orders their execution. Instead, Fly lets them go. The group is captured by Dawes but face charges because they lack proof of Billings' corruption. Kat convinces Fly to wear a wire during a meeting with the Albanians in exchange for immunity for all four of them.

During the deal, the trio, now improvving as undercover officers, intervene to save Fly and get Metcalfe on tape admitting to the drugs, causing the real police to storm in to arrest the criminals. Metcalfe is killed by Shosh, who escapes. Fly, learning the trio are actually improv actors, rewards them with cash. In the aftermath, Marlon achieves a break in his acting career, Hugh pursues his real passion by opening a wine shop, and Kat gains a large new class of students amid rumours of her undercover work.

The film was announced in February 2024, with Tom Kingsley set to direct. It was based on an original story by Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow, and written by British comedy duo Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen. The project was produced by Trevorrow through Metronome Film Co., alongside Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, with Annys Hamilton serving as co-producer.^[3]

The main cast—Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean, Nick Mohammed, Ian McShane, Paddy Considine, Sonoya Mizuno and Ben Rufus Green—was announced on 1 February 2024.^[4]

Principal photography began on 5 February 2024 in London.^[5]

Deep Cover was released globally on Amazon Prime Video on 12 June 2025.^[6][7]

The film premiered exclusively on the streaming platform as part of Prime Video's 2025 summer slate of original British productions.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of 38 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Like any good improv comedy skit, Deep Cover treats an amusing setup with a freewheeling sense of fun while giving each of its performers their time to shine."^[8] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[9]

• Deep Cover at IMDb