Sometimes, a concept is all you need, and director Elizabeth Banks (“Pitch Perfect 2,” “Charlie’s Angels (2019)”) and writer Jimmy Warden (“The Babysitter: Killer Queen”) have one hell of a concept here. Inspired by the story of a real-life bear that ingested 75 lbs. of cocaine in 1985, the aptly titled “Cocaine Bear” is a drugged up, B-movie rampage that guarantees to provide one thing: a rampaging bear on cocaine.
The ensemble film stars Keri Russell (“The Americans,” “The Diplomat”) as Seri, a mother looking for her daughter Dee Dee, played by Brooklynn Prince (“The Florida Project,” “Home Before Dark”), who’s run away to the woods with her best friend Henry, played by Christian Convery (“Sweet Tooth,” “Playing with Fire”). Meanwhile, a pair of drug runners named Eddie and Daveed, played by Alden Ehrenreich (“Solo: A Star Wars Story,” “Hail Ceasar!”) and O’Shea Jackson Jr. (“Straight Outta Compton,” “Ingrid Goes West”) respectively, are told by their boss Syd, played by Ray Liotta (“Goodfellas,” “Field of Dreams”), to head to the Georgia wilderness to retrieve a shipment of cocaine dumped in the woods. And still there’s Margo Martindale (“Justified,” “The Americans”) as Ranger Liz, and a further ensemble cast rounded out by Isiah Whitlock Jr. (“The Wire,” “BlacKkKlansman”), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Modern Family,” “8”), Kristofer Hivju (“The Fate of the Furious,” “Game of Thrones”), and even a brief appearance by Matthew Rhys (“The Post,” “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”).
For a film with a runtime of only 95 minutes, that’s quite a lot of characters. Thankfully, Banks knows why audiences are here, to see a violent, raging bear hopped up on cocaine. She delivers that virtually from the start, and there’s plenty of wild happenings to justify the price of admission. The actual bear is completely CGI and it looks like it for the most part. Yes, this is clearly a B-movie not meant to be taken seriously, but there are moments where you do wish the bear just looked a little bit better.
The huge emphasis on practical gore and sets does wonders when things do really get going, and that helps to sell the animal’s rampage for sure. Like most creature features though, there is likely too much time spent on the human counterparts. Some of it is fine, like Daveed and Eddie’s journey, which have the silly, tongue in cheek nature of a film poking fun at these kinds of B-movies. But the film also commits the cardinal sin of getting us too invested in some of the characters, meaning the ones that die feel more sour than silly. Yes, it’s a movie about a cocaine fueled bear that goes on a killing rampage, but when you put effort into endearing us to your handful of characters, its gonna sting a bit more when some of them are inevitably offed.
For their part, the actors do a fine job with what they’re given. Liotta feels like he’s just reacting to what’s going on, as if he wasn’t given a script and is hearing it all for the first time in real time. Russell and Martindale fully commit to the gonzo nature of it all, but its Ehrenreich and Jackson who really steal the show. Ehrenreich in particular makes a strong case for a career in over-the-top comedies of this style, as opposed to the action films he used to be starring in.
Here's the big problem with the film though: it’s a movie about a bear on cocaine. That’s it. While there’s certainly fun to be had here, there is zero reason to see this film if you aren’t in on the concept. It isn’t good enough to win over any naysayers, and it isn’t gonzo enough to have a long life on home media like movies like “Malignant” or “Barbarian.” There are a few moments where Banks let’s her origins show, with bits of humor that are so left field they definitely remind you she got her start with the likes of “Wet Hot American Summer.”
But that’s where things begin and end. Not into a movie about a bear on cocaine? Well, this isn’t the movie for you. It’s fun enough, but painfully one note by the time things are over. Yes, you can shout from the heavens “what were you expecting?” And that is a valid thing to ask. But when your movie about a bear hopped up on cocaine is only 95 minutes long and still starts to feel stretched thin, you have a problem.
“Cocaine Bear” is silly, hammily acted, and one-note. It makes for a fun enough evening, and its definitely the right length for something like this. But there’s nothing about it that stands out or is good enough to recommend to anyone who wasn’t already going to see it based on the title alone. 3/5
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