Cocaine Bear Movie Review
Nathan Swank
February 25th, 2023
COCAINE BEAR may not be the superhero we deserve, but he’s the superhero we need right now.
High caliber, B-movie extravaganza, COCAINE BEAR is the perfect ridiculous wild ride to contrast the tiresome sequel, remake, and superhero genre that Hollywood has inundated into the public. The amount of fun and laughter that COCAINE BEAR provides will directly correlate how much one is willing to open themselves up to the outrageous insanity. I for one am all in!
A drug dealer drops a bunch of bags of cocaine from an airplane before knocking himself unconscious on his drop down. A grizzly bear happens upon a little and gets himself a bit of a taste. Well the fix is on and now this bear is Cocaine Bear and will kill and devour anyone who gets in his way or gets in his way of any other cocaine she happens upon. There are plenty of colorful characters and subplots.
Keri Russell is a worried, brave mother in search of her lost child in the woods. Alden Ehrenreich and O’She Jackson are a couple of good-natured drug dealers trying to recoup their lost cocaine with Ray Liotta as their boss. Isiah Whitlock Jr. is a detective trying to catch the drug dealers looking for the bags of cocaine. Margo Martindale and Jesse Tyler Ferguson play a ranger and animal activist trying to keep the area clean and safe. And then we have a bunch of local punk kids who like to steal and vandalize. But these characters are mostly fodder for the main star, Cocaine Bear, who makes victims or at least obstacles for our cast of human characters.
COCAINE BEAR is absolutely ridiculous and it is more glorious for it. Director Elizabeth Banks understands the assignment as do the actors involved. Everyone seems to be having a fun time, knowing that this is pure silly fun making a movie about a drugged out bear mauling everybody.
COCAINE BEAR is actually based on the truth that an American black bear did overdose on a bunch of cocaine. But none of the murders actually happened. Obviously COCAINE BEAR isn’t winning prestigious awards and I think the film could have gone sillier with its madness. Nonetheless, it is a goofy pleasure that will delight audiences as easy entertaining horror comedy fun.
