There’s a new movie on Amazon Prime titled “Deep Cover.” In Deep Cover, the plot is fairly ridiculous: 3 London area improvisers are recruited by the cops to infiltrate the criminal underground. The trio are forced to work as a team and use the skills they learned in their improv classes to get in with the bad guys and out of sticky situations. The film stars Bryce Dallas Howard (IDK… Jurassic stuff?) as the instructor and students Nick Mohammed (Ted Lasso), and Orlando Bloom (Lord Of the Rings’ Legolas of the Woodland Realm). Bloom also happens to be briefly reunited with his Fellowship brother and Captain of Gondor, Boromir (Sean Bean). Spoiler alert: Sean Bean dies as he does in everything.
As far as movies go… it’s OK! I’m not saying this will be getting any Oscars, but it’s a fun watch. It’s pretty short so it goes from one thing to the next very quickly. This is fine for people who like a short movie, but it leaves little room for good character development and really earning some third act payoffs. They do a decent job with the little they have though. Since it’s a movie about improvisers I would have loved to see working improvisers in it, but they did OK. It just felt very scripted for a movie with “improvisers” in it.
The main thing I liked about Deep Cover is that is doesn’t shit all over improv! In many films and series improv is portrayed very poorly. Usually it’s a small group of dweebs on stage acting goofy with shots of the few members of the audience looking uncomfortable. To be fair, this is not a reputation that has not been earned in some cases. I attribute this poor representation of improv on the screen to the rise of improv and sketch comedians in writers rooms roasting their own, which I get. Have your fun, however; it was nice to a see improv portrayed as the skill that it is. Particularly how those improv skills can help you in real life – sure the situation was pretty out there, but the point remains. If those skills can help you infiltrate the seedy underbelly of London, then they can surely help you deliver a presentation with confidence, be more comfortable in social situations, and communicate better with your partner. The only other portrayal of improv that did a decent job of this was the Brothers Sun on Netflix. This series, oddly enough, also had an improviser get mixed up in the criminal underground. When my story of improvisers getting involved in the criminal underground comes out, just trust me when I say it was conceived of years before either of these. I promise.
This is not a paid ad, so we don’t get money whether you watch it or not. So do or do not – you decide. I simply wanted to point out a portrayal of improv that wasn’t a bunch of dweebs on stage playing zip zap zop, but rather people good at thinking on their feet, working as a team, and creating characters on the spot.
In short – take an improv class! We have them in Indianapolis and Philly. In fact we have a one day workshop in Indy on July 1st where you can get a 2 hour crash course in improv, meet new people, and have a blast doing it. The movie is 3 out of 5 stars. The improv skills it highlights? 5 stars all around. Take a class and see for yourself.
