Tom Kingsley has a fair bit of directorial experience in the world of TV, but this is the first feature that he has helmed solo. He's done himself a favour, however, by getting a good group of writers together and a central cast all eager to have a lot of fun. The end result is a very entertaining comedy that works due to everyone leaning into the silliness of it all.
Bryce Dallas Howard is Kat, a young woman spending her time teaching improv. Some of her students are moving on to successful careers. Kat isn't. She's stuck with people like Marlon (Orlando Bloom), an actor who always needs to find a darkness in every character he plays, and Hugh (Nick Mohammed), a nervous young man just hoping to develop some confidence that will help him avoid being ignored and/or used at his workplace. When Kat is asked to do some absolutely safe, and not due to escalate at all, undercover work by a cop named Billings (Sean Bean), she ends up heading along with Marlon and Hugh to an encounter with Fly (Paddy Considine). Fly is a criminal, but he's not at the top of the chain. That would be Metcalfe (Ian McShane), and our trio end up becoming entangled with him in an increasingly messy situation that they may struggle to escape alive.
It's a testament to the performances of the leads here that you wouldn't think it took four people to write this. While I can't help feeling that the nature of some scenes may have allowed some of the performers to improv in line with their characters, credit goes to Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow for the story, and Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen for the screenplay. The premise is great for comic potential, and everyone works hard to make the most of it.
Kingsley may not show any great ambition or creativity in his direction, but he does enough to keep everything rolling along nicely. It's not all that cinematic, but there are moments when it throws in some gags or stunts that are impressive enough to remind you that it's a movie with some money behind it. Even if a lot of that money may have been used to secure the stars.
As for the stars, Howard does well acting as if trying to control the two problematic men alongside her, but it's both Mohammed and Bloom getting to deliver more of the laughs. I expected Mohammed to do well as someone slightly shy and awkward, but Bloom shows a real talent for comedy with his hilarious arrogance and thick-headed attempts to add unnecessary backstory to every character he portrays. Considine is a convincing crook, as he's shown us in other films, Bean does very well with what he needs to do, and McShane is so good as a powerful heavy that even his ill-advised attempt at a Scottish accent doesn't make him any less intimidating. There's a good selection of supporting cast members, all in line with the tone, but they're all elevated by sharing scenes with the leads.
It's very predictable, very much in line with a number of straight-to-streaming movies that have that, sometimes indefinable, straight-to-streaming movies feel, but saved by the fact that it's also occasionally very funny. Most of the biggest laughs come from Bloom, but everyone gets a chance to shine, and the 100-minute runtime is perfect for the material.
7/10
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