Cocaine Bear (2023)

​“Cocaine Bear” stars Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Christian Convery, Alden Ehrenreich, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Brooklynn Prince, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Margo Martindale, and Ray Liotta. Released on February 24, 2023, the film has a group of people surviving against a bear that ingested a bag of cocaine.

The film is directed by Elizabeth Banks, who also directed “Movie 43”, “Pitch Perfect 2”, and “Charlie’s Angels”. Everyone knows that someone obsessed with cocaine, especially those who make it, can spell trouble. But do you know what’s more catastrophic than a person doing cocaine? A bear doing cocaine. Considering how these creatures can be when provoked, you better pray that this bear doesn’t make you its next meal. You might be thinking that this is another absurd original idea from the people of Hollywood, but it’s actually crazier than you think. This idea was loosely inspired by the actual “Cocaine Bear”, who died from swallowing a duffel bag full of cocaine dropped by drug smugglers in 1985. While it didn’t kill any people in real life, it did give us a humorous head-scratcher that must be read to believe. Even I was utterly speechless about this bizarre incident when I first read about it. It shows that life is full of strange occurrences that you admire instead of questioning them. Regardless of where this idea came from and how it got past PETA’s strict restrictions on animals in film, the concept is bonkers enough for me to see it on day one. So was it crazy enough to deliver popcorn entertainment for the adults, or was it too absurd for its own good? Let’s find out.

The movie follows the real-life events surrounding the “Cocaine Bear” incident in 1985. A former narcotics officer and convicted drug smuggler named Andrew C. Thornton II (Matthew Rhys) dropped a duffel bag full of cocaine from his plane. The cocaine landed in the wilderness, where a 500-pound American black bear resides. When the bear swallows an entire load of cocaine, it goes completely nuts and goes on a killing rampage to search for more cocaine to ingest. The story follows a group of characters who unexpectedly get caught in its path and attempt to survive against the creature. The group includes Sari (Russell), a nurse searching for her daughter Dee Dee (Prince), and Syd Dentwood (Liotta), a drug kingpin in pursuit of the lost cocaine alongside fixer Daveed (Jackson Jr.) and Syd’s son Eddie (Ehrenreich).

The folks at Universal have recently been doing surprisingly well in meeting the expectations of their bizarre concepts. “Violent Night” was a bloody good time featuring a savage Saint Nick, and “M3GAN” delivered a solid mixture of horror, comedy, and social commentary involving technology. The films I mentioned would’ve been recipes for disaster critically or financially, especially “M3GAN”. Instead, they were examples of giving audiences what they want while providing something that critics will enjoy. This brings us to the studio’s latest piece of absurd cinema, “Cocaine Bear”, which involves…you guessed it, a bear high on cocaine. The fact that this story actually happened in real life (minus the killing) makes this concept even more absurd for us to believe. So if you want another reason to say no to drugs, this might be it.

Regarding the cast and crew involved, including director Elizabeth Banks and producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the film has plenty of expectations to meet to provide another batch of schlocky goodness for mature viewers. Excluding having an award-winning story, “Cocaine Bear” has to express the bizarreness of its concept but also have enough moments in its B-movie plot and characters to match the absurdity of the drug-filled rampaging animal. Unsurprisingly, the film managed to deliver those expectations. Did I think it could’ve been crazier than what it’s presented? Yes, I did. Did I have fun watching a bear eat cocaine and kill people regardless? Absolutely.

While the story does center on a black bear ingesting cocaine, its main focus is on the characters, each of which would eventually collide with one another due to their agendas. One of them is Sari searching for two children, Dee Dee and Henry (Convery). The other is local detective Bob (Whitlock Jr.), who seeks to take down Syd. Finally, we have Daveed and Eddie Dentwood, both of whom Syd is tasked to retrieve the cocaine lost in the woods. The B-movies tend to care more about the corniness and carnage of their concepts than the scripts and characters, which usually results in them being pure cheese or cheap garbage. However, most can also be enjoyable if the right amount of care is put into their bizarreness. Fortunately, “Cocaine Bear” happens to be an example of the latter, with its characters being entertaining yet one-dimensional victims to the wild bear and even themselves.

It’s easy to point out that Jimmy Warden’s screenplay wasn’t very keen on character exploration. However, for a movie like this, it doesn’t have to. The lack of strong storytelling and layered characters are easily compensated with a sense of joy in its crazy ideas and entertaining humor. Its dialogue for some characters was far from perfect, but it’s suitable for expressing its bizarre premise in a comical light. Elizabeth Banks seemed like an odd choice to helm a film like “Cocaine Bear” since it’s more of a “horror” comedy than a light-hearted one. Her previous efforts, “Pitch Perfect 2” and 2019’s “Charlie’s Angels”, showed that Banks can handle comedy well. Although, her storytelling vision hasn’t been one of her most substantial aspects so far. However, Banks’s direction toward “Cocaine Bear” managed to turn things around for her. Even though the horror element may seem underwhelming, Banks expresses the adult-rated silliness of a cocaine-infused bear and the people confronting it to the best of her ability. Unfortunately, there were also a couple of moments when the mileage for its tone faltered more than it should have despite its short length. Besides that, the actress-turned-filmmaker managed to keep her directorial career alive thanks to her furry, cocaine-obsessed pet and her blend of violence and comedy.

Despite their characters being prey for big old Papa Bear, the cast delivered enough levity and amusement in their performances to overshadow their formulaic personalities. Keri Russell and O’Shea Jackson Jr. were both solid in their roles as Sari and Daveed, respectively. However, there are some actors that I happen to enjoy the most. One of them is Christian Convery, who’s mainly known for playing Gus in the Netflix series “Sweet Tooth”. Convery’s Henry should’ve winded up being another kid character with an annoying personality, but he actually turns out to be more amusing than I thought. The other is Margo Martindale as Liz, the local Forest Ranger, mainly for the scene involving her and one of the teenage robbers. Finally, we have Alden Ehrenreich, who makes a decent acting comeback thanks to his enjoyable performance as Eddie. But, of course, I can’t forget about the late Ray Liotta, who was also entertaining in one of his final performances. I never thought that Liotta fighting a CGI bear high on cocaine before his death would be this amusing until the film proved otherwise.

Some of you may wonder how I felt about the movie’s kills. Of course, with a film that’s titled “Cocaine Bear” and slapped with an R-rating, it would be crazy for them not to deliver the brutalities caused by a wild animal. Well, I can easily say that there are some gruesome deaths that I found mildly amusing. While they’re not as over-the-top or memorable as I hoped they would be regarding how tame some of them were, the kills offer just enough to be humorous but also shocking without relying heavily on grossing audiences out. Regarding the visuals, it’s understandable why they made the bear 100% CGI instead of using a real one. The filmmakers didn’t want to repeat the 1985 incident with another harmless bear, but they also didn’t want to get a lawsuit from PETA, so the art of CGI was the only solution for them. To me, it was for the best because the visuals for the bear looked pretty darn good for a $35 million budget movie.

Overall, “Cocaine Bear” brings the unbelievable true story of the titular animal to roaring life with a dark comedy that’s undeniably bizarre but also ridiculously entertaining. When it comes to the execution of its concept, the movie admittedly falters in its plot and characters more so than it did in its absurdity. Fortunately, the movie delivers enough moments from its idea to get comedy-seeking audiences high on entertainment values. Thanks to its cast, Elizabeth Banks’s direction, and solid humor, the film is another fun and crazy experience done right. If “man vs. nature” movies and dark comedies are your thing, you don’t want to miss out on this latest experience. Just don’t bring the cocaine with you.

B-