“Cocaine Bear” Review
A bear does cocaine in “Cocaine Bear.” That’s about it.
You know, it’s interesting when a film is dedicated to someone. Many times it’s in posthumous recognition of a person who played an important role in making the film and it's the filmmakers way of saying how honored they were to have worked with that person. The great Richard Burton was eulogized in “1984” while Carrie Fisher was remembered in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” I distinctly remember shedding some tears when I saw the tribute to Spider-Man creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in the closing credits of “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.” So what film decided to dedicate itself to the great Ray Liotta? “Cocaine Bear.” Yeah, that’s about right.
While the title of this film makes it seem like it’s a nonsensically stupid yet entertaining actionfest, the actual film is a nonsensically stupid yet entertaining actionfest. “Cocaine Bear” definitely lives up to the title with a ridiculous premise that is brought to life with comedic dedication and a wild sense of fun. If you’re even remotely interested in this film just based on the title, I think you’ll probably enjoy it as much as I did. Now I want to see what other animals on drugs would look like. Meth Weasel would probably try to rip your face off, LSD Wallaby would be a war veteran who’s using the drug as a way to help his PTSD in a clinical study and Pot Platypus just wants to enjoy reruns of “Hey Arnold” even more than he already does.
Set in 1985, a bunch of cocaine is dropped in the mountains of a Georgia national park for a dealer named Syd (Ray Liotta) to collect. However, a black bear finds some of it and quickly gets hooked, going on a killing spree while searching for more of its powdery medicine. As the bear tears up the forest, many characters all try to make it out of the forest alive. Spoiler alert, a lot of them won’t.
What I liked about this film is how much blind escapism it offered. Don’t get me wrong, I loved many of the riveting films that will be honored at the upcoming Oscars, including “The Fabelmans,” “Tár” and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” but sometimes I just want to see a bear completely geeked on coke kill people. “Cocaine Bear” certainly delivers on its promises by having a lot of gory fun. I wouldn’t be shocked if this film was all a hallucination from Henry Hill (Ray Liotta’s most iconic performance) in “Goodfellas” when he’s coked out of his mind watching reruns of “Yogi Bear.” The ranger isn’t going to like this indeed.
Whether it was because of blackmail or she just really wanted to be a part of this insane project, Keri Russell stars in “Cocain Bar” as one of the many people trying to avoid being killed by this animal.
A lot of people are going to die in this film and I’m sure that director Elizabeth Banks and screenwriter Jimmy Warden had as much fun killing characters as I did watching them die. It may seem odd and downright troubling to relish in such carnage but when it’s done in such an over-the-top manner with comedic sensibilities, how can you not laugh? The funny thing is that this is based on a true story and the only thing funnier than that is that most of this film was completely made up. I think the makers of “80 for Brady,” “Cocaine Bear” and I need to have a talk about what “based on a true story” actually means.
Regardless of historical accuracy, the film sets up an enjoyable atmosphere and captures the insanity of the time period without cramming 80s references down your throat. What’s even more humorous is that most of the actors not only treat this story seriously, but most of them aren’t the action-movie type. With the exception of Alden Ehrenreich, who previously played a young Han solo in “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” actors like Keri Russell, Isaiah Whitlock Jr. and Margo Martindale have to take on a bear and it’s hilarious. I never thought that I would see Dewey Cox’s mother be a badass with a gun but anything is possible at the movies.
While “Cocaine Bear” was a fun rush, I unfortunately don’t see this having the lasting impact of a comedy classic. For me, whenever the film doesn’t have the bear on screen, the plot suffers because many of these characters just felt like cannon fodder to shoot at the bear whenever it prowled into frame. Some of the characters, like Martindale’s park ranger or Ehrenreich’s emotionally troubled drug dealer, manage to leave an impact and by God, Christian convery’s performance as Henry, a young boy who becomes one of the many people running from this messed up bear, gave a performance that had me laughing constantly. Someone give that kid an award please.
However, the other characters feel like stock tropes like the workaholic mother, the obsessed cop or the asshole teenagers. It would be fine if they were funny but they didn’t get that many laughs out of me. It’s like “Spaceballs” if the protagonists weren’t as compelling. Is the villain of both movies the best part? Yes. However, the heroes needed to have some more personality to them. Fortunately, Elizabeth Banks knows what we want to see and keeps the bear on screen as much as possible.
With such a massive fanbase attached to the film before it was even released, I don’t think that “Cocaine Bear” will be short on people who want to take a ride on the film’s insanity. Whether or not people are still talking about this film years later is uncertain but I have a feeling that this film is going to bring joy to a lot of twenty-somethings who want to just laugh for 90 minutes straight.
