Director Elizabeth Banks and writer Jimmy Warden infuse the right comedic tone and timing to make the whole mess congeal into a blood-splattered good time.
“Inspired by true events,” claims the advertising campaign for Cocaine Bear, a movie about a bear that ingests cocaine and goes on a murder spree through a national park in Georgia. Yes, there really was a bear that came across some cocaine dumped from an airplane. Yes, it ate some. And it died shortly thereafter. No rampage through the forest. No comedic hijinks. No body count, aside from the bear’s and that of the man who tossed the cocaine out of the plane, Anthony Thornton. (His parachute didn’t open and he hit the ground with an unceremonious thud on a Tennessee driveway.) So the true events found in Cocaine Bear end pretty much after the drug hits the poor bear’s bloodstream.
So, Cocaine Bear tells a story of what could have happened if reality had taken a day off back in 1985. As it is, the movie is a high-concept horror farce that, somehow, sustains enough momentum from beginning to end to warrant a watch. Despite a few too many subplots, things never go out of control. The surprising cast breathe enough life into their characters that you don’t mind switching your brain to autopilot to enjoy the ride.
The film unspools the intertwined fates of a suburban mom (Keri Russell) searching for two truant children (Brooklynn Prince and Christian Convery) who cross paths with a pair of drug dealers (O’Shea Jackson, Jr. and Alden Ehrenreich) and their boss (Ray Liotta.) They, in turn, run into a forest ranger (Margo Martindale,) a wildlife expert (Jesse Tyler Ferguson,) and a trio of thugs. Mix in a police detective (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.), a pair of soon-to-be-newlyweds, and, of course, a large, cocaine-fueled black bear and that’s the formula for Cocaine Bear.
The plot doesn’t really matter. As long as there are enough people filing into the forest to satiate the bear’s taste for blood, everything is just fine. Director Elizabeth Banks and writer Jimmy Warden infuse the right comedic tone and timing to make the whole mess congeal into a blood-splattered good time. Although, there are times when the story starts to veer into sentimental territory, it course-corrects before the mood is ruined.
And, if you’re wondering (or worried about) how they got a real bear to do all of these insane things without getting hurt, don’t fret. The bear is 100% computer-generated and her antics are performed by stuntman Allan Henry. And, for the most part, looks pretty convincing. (Or, at least as convincing as an ambulance-chasing, tree-headbutting, snowblind bear can look.)
I was cautiously hoping that Cocaine Bear wouldn’t be yet another case where a movie trailer gives away all the good parts. It’s definitely not. While it sounds like a movie that would end up on a double bill with Snakes on a Plane or Sharknado, it’s nowhere near as dumb as either of them. It’s gleefully stupid though. If you can appreciate a movie that regales in the absurdity of a cocaine-crazy forest creature, you’ll have a great time.
3.5 out of 5.0 stars
