The only thing "too deep" about this movie is the apparent lack of respect its creators must have for audiences -- it is literally an insult that such an abysmal failure has made it to market. In Too Deep has to be the unfortunate vehicle conceived to sell an equally worthless soundtrack, the product of some greedy forces who seek to profit from a story that regularly detours gratuitously senseless violence on its course to complete disappointment.

Jeff Collins (Omar Epps) is a recent Police Academy graduate. His first assignment is to infiltrate the city’s largest narcotics ring and take down druglord Dwayne "God" Giddens (LL Cool J). In order to get close enough to God and make an arrest, Collins [alter ego J. Reed] is forced to plunge further and further into criminal activity himself. Clashes with the Captain (Stanley Tucci) over crossing the line between effective undercover work and unjustifiable violence, and a love affair (Nia Long), are mandatory sub-plots in the formulaic script. Every element of the story is underdeveloped and flat, none providing additional value or even distraction. It’s too bad that Omar Epps’ solid performance is buried almost as deeply as the pool queue God uses to torture a victim during one of his outbreaks.

In Too Deep comes up short merely if you're looking for a decently graphic slice of the gangsta variety. Expect nothing except a test of how long your patience lasts before the overwhelming banality of this film causes you to reach for the eject button.



But not deep enough.