Review: “Cocaine bear” at its best when it comes to bear on cocaine

In 1985, a black bear ate 75 pounds of cocaine in a forest in Georgia and almost immediately died of an overdose. It’s certainly a weird story, the kind you could tell your friend to get, “Wow, no way!” answer. Aptly titled The Cocaine Bear, Elizabeth Banks’ new film asks the question: instead of overdosing, what if this bear develops a taste for the drug and goes into a murderous, devouring rage to get more?

The premise is a goldmine for B-movie fans and gore enthusiasts, and while it delivers more snatches than the entire movie, Cocaine Bear is still wildly fun. With a range of talents from the late Ray Liotta to Margot Martindale who understand the importance of commitment, it’s exciting to watch a computer bear dash through windows and jump into ambulances to maul unsuspecting drug dealers and park rangers. .

The more the characters lean into the folly of the whole enterprise, the more sensational the film becomes. During a stalemate between a police officer (Isaiah Whitlock Jr.), two cartel lackeys (Alden Enrenreich and O’Shea Jackson Jr.) and an unsuspecting local boy (Aaron Holliday), the three shoot each other’s fingers off and inhale excess cocaine. the air is bear bait. This is wild fun.

Between these farcical and gory scenes, Cocaine Bear, admittedly, pauses a bit. Should the film show the backstory of a police officer who is present for the entire 15 minutes of the film, or include not one but two adorable little children (Brooklyn Prince and Christian Convery) in danger? As more and more characters are introduced, the film feels less like a crazy carnage movie and more like a third-rate work by the Coen brothers. Even before you get to the third act, you realize that every time the bear leaves the screen, you can’t wait to get it back as quickly as possible.

However, when the bear comes on screen, Banks really stirs up the wildness of the whole story by presenting her as a slasher villain who plays by the same rules as Ghostface from the Scream movies. The bear hides in the bushes and appears in dark corners, acting more like a serial killer than a wild animal. However, the madness of the bear only helps the film – with each bitten off leg and gutted torso, the audience rejoices more and more. The fact that the cocaine acts as a magic elixir for the bear is the icing on the cake – there is a scene in which the titular animal appears to come back to life after inhaling cocaine dust.

This is a film that is actively striving for B-movie status, and it largely succeeds in fulfilling those aspirations. Whenever a movie gets too carried away with sentimentality or performance, it risks losing its audience – at least until cocaine or the bear makes a comeback.

One of the biggest jokes about the movie was that it’s all about the title: Cocaine Bear. But this is what we need to see, bear and cocaine! Every time a movie implements its absurd concept, it delivers high-octane, chaotic fun.

Contact Colleen Secaure at [email protected]